Outsourcing surgery?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 08:20:48 -0800
From: Saundra Kae Rubel <privacylaws () sbcglobal net>
Subject: Outsourcing surgery?
X-Sender: privacylaws () sbcglobal net@pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com
To: dave () farber net

Hi Dave
(Declan told me to join your list, thought you'd enjoy this )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3467105.stm
As if lawyerly outsourcing did not have its pros and cons, how about 
outsourcing surgery?

Maharashtra woos medical tourists
By the BBC's Ben Wright

"Open your new eyes on the beach of Juhu" is a possible slogan
Many people from the developed world come to India for the rejuvenation 
promised by yoga and ayurvedic massage, but few consider it a destination 
for hip replacements or brain surgery.

Yet that's exactly what the government in the Indian state of Maharashtra 
hopes will happen soon.

Together with the state's business sector and private health-care providers 
it recently launched the Medical Tourism Council (MTC) of Maharashtra.

Its aim: to make India a prime destination for medical tourists.

At its swish offices in central Bombay, also known as Mumbai, members of 
the council explain the concept.

Bombay, they argue, has private hospitals on a par with the best in the world.


Wherever you can offer better services at a more competitive price, that is 
the place that is going to win
Sanjay Agarwala, neurosurgeon

Many of the surgeons at hospitals such as the Hinduja are leaders in their 
field, working with the best equipment available.

But they can provide their expertise at a fraction of the price that 
comparable surgery would cost in Europe or the United States.

Integrated package

GS Gill is principle secretary at the state's health department and is 
convinced the council has found a winning formula.

"You get a quick procedure in a good quality environment at a lower cost", 
he says. "It's an ideal combination."

Walking in from the frenetic streets of Bombay, the Hinduja hospital is 
certainly a surprise.

The Hinduja's facilities are as good as London or New York

Its spotless corridors and state-of-the-art equipment could be those of the 
best hospitals in London or New York.

But the major difference between the Hinduja and hospitals in the West is 
invisible: the cost.

The brochure produced by the MTC has a table listing the comparable costs 
of procedure.

It says, for example, that the average price of private heart surgery in 
the West is $50,000.

In Bombay it can be done for $10,000.

The same ratio applies to joint replacement, neurosurgery and cancer treatment.

The council plans to provide fixed-price treatment packages to foreign 
patients, integrating all their transport, medical and living costs into 
one price.

It will also use the state's more conventional tourist attractions.

One of the slogans being considered is "open your new eyes on the beach of 
Juhu" - a reference to the five-star Arabian Sea resort 30 kilometres (20 
miles) north of central Bombay.

Who are the winners?

Initially the MTC plans to woo foreign patients who pay for private 
health-care in their own countries.

Will the new policy trickle down to benefit Bombay citizens?

But it also plans to work with state-run systems.

For instance, Anapum Verma, the council's honorary secretary, believes 
Britain has a "huge potential" for medical tourism owing to its long 
waiting lists for surgery.

He has already had exploratory conversations with some British National 
Health Service managers about the possibility of sending patients to India.

For the MTC, its plans are the next chapter in globalisation and the 
outsourcing of work to India.

As Sanjay Agarwala, the Hinduja's chief neurosurgeon, says: "Wherever you 
can offer better services at a more competitive price, that is the place 
that is going to win in the end."

But others question who the winners will really be.

Dr Rama Baru is a health academic in Delhi.

She believes that the marriage between the interests of Western medical 
tourists and a handful of private hospitals is at "a very superficial level 
as far as the medical care industry in India is concerned".

Contrary to the claims of the council, Dr Baru believes there will be no 
trickle down of money to the impoverished public health system, which 
currently receives just 0.9% of India's gross domestic product.

The MTC's plans may well benefit the doctors and patients involved, but it 
is currently unclear how a country that still suffers from malaria and TB 
will reap the rewards of a new wave of medical tourists coming to India.



====================================================
Saundra Kae Rubel
Privacy Law Analyst
Privacy Knowledge Base: the world's most comprehensive privacy and data 
protection law database containing extensive information and expert 
analysis about privacy and data protection in the United States, and 64 
other countries including the European Union member states.
http://www.privacyknowledgebase.com/


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