India Has Far Better Facilities Than NHS Hospitals ; EXCLUSIVE DOCTOR BACKS PLAN TO SEND PATIENTS ABROAD
By BEN GOLDBY
PATIENTS stuck on surgery waiting lists in the Midlands could be sent to India for treatment – funded by the cash-strapped NHS.
Under a controversial new scheme, hospitals in Birmingham and Leicester would transfer patients to the sub-continent for a range of surgical procedures.
The NHS would pick up the bill for the foreign operations, which could include hip replacements and heart surgery.
The politically sensitive move has already been discussed by Indian Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, and senior members of the Department of Health.
And sources say the Midlands has been identified as the ideal testing ground for the plan. But DoH officials have stated they are not interested in the proposals – yet Mr Ramadoss claims the British response has been “positive”.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, head of the British Association for Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), said the idea of sending NHS patients to the sub-continent would be well received in the Midlands.
“I think that Birmingham or Leicester, where we have huge Indian populations, would be very suitable as a pilot area for this,” he said.
“We would be looking at maybe a one or two year trial there.
“Hospitals in the private sector in India are coming up in a big way. Many have much better facilities than NHS hospitals.
“Common sense should prevail and if good ideas are suggested, they need to be explored by the British Government. “I can’t comment for them, but we are hopeful.”
But opponents say the idea of sending NHS patients on an 8,000- plus mile round trip to India is flawed.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told the Sunday Mercury: “If the Government is planning this, it has a lot of questions to answer.
“We have a significant cardiac surgery capacity in this country and the Government has recently said it does not believe the problem in this country is capacity. “This begs the question, what is it trying to achieve by sending patients to India? Why can it not focus on securing greater efficiency in this country?
“We have had a decade of falling productivity. I despair at the Government’s failure to deal with Britain’s inability to deliver the best healthcare in the world.”
Health tourism is a growing phenomenon and is set to become a pounds 2 billion-a-year business in India by 2012.
UK patients can pay pounds 13,000 more for a private heart by- pass operation in Britain than in the Asian country. And plastic surgery, such as liposuction, can cost as little as pounds 670 on the sub-continent, compared to pounds 4,500 in the Midlands. In 2006 Annemarie Jones, 31, from Dudley, underwent surgery in India to remove excess flesh from her stomach.
The mum-of-five paid pounds 3,000 for the foreign op – compared to a pounds 12,000 quote in the UK.
The Sunday Mercury has also previously revealed how doctors from the Apollo Hospital Network, in New Delhi, target the Midlands to attract health tourists.
Apollo’s Medical Director Dr Anupam Sibal, who has worked at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said he had treated hundreds of Britons in complex heart, brain and organ operations.
But the idea of the NHS-funded trips abroad is hugely controversial.
Dr Mehta said: “I know that patients from Birmingham are already travelling to India for treatments, so why not let them do it on the NHS? “I am sure the Midlands and Birmingham in particular would benefit hugely from this scheme. Patients of an Asian origin would feel quite comfortable and homely if they went out there. “Indian hospitals give more help to the families and people can rehabilitate in a relaxed environment. “The Indian doctors also do a huge amount of work in terms of quantity of patients, compared with the UK. The treatment over there is cheaper than in Europe, so it would end up saving the NHS money.”
But the Department of Health said: “The Government is very clear that the NHS will not pay for health tourism.
“Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, Hugh Taylor, did meet with the Indian Health Minister and the offer to treat NHS patients in India was made. But the proposal to fly NHS patients there for treatment is not being considered.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
SHOULD we be sending patients to India on the NHS, or should our own hospitals receive more funding? Write to Foreign Healthcare Letters, Sunday Mercury, Birmingham, B4 6AY, or e-mail SundayMercury@mrn.co.uk
bengolden@mrn.co.uk
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