Do we care?

 

 

Medical tourism emerged as a high revenue and high growth sector in India on account of private healthcare institutions (such as large scale, hi-tech and expensive 500-bed hospitals and nursing homes which have invested in acquiring state-of-the-art technologies from medical institutions from the West). All this while the poor of India, whom these private institutions have ignored, languish suffering ailments at government-sponsored medical institutions which unfortunately still continue to follow dilapidated models of service delivery.

The plight of the deprived section is worsening with the passing second. According to a 2005 report published by Ministry of Family Welfare and Public Health, 5,000 people die of AIDS in India every year. In addition to this, 1.5 million people die of tuberculosis and another 4 million die of curable diseases like diarrhoea every year. In spite of this, the number of doctors per 1,000 of the population stands at 0.59 against a global standard of 2.25. Nearly two-third of this number caters to urban India. Take for instance the cost of cardiac procedure or hip replacement in India. No doubt that it is far less than that of US (around 10 times less) but even then it is too high for India's middle class patients.

According to a report generated by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and McKinsey & Co., the Indian healthcare system will be worth $45 billion in 2012 from $18.7 billion as on date, with medical tourism accounting for $2 billion. The number of people visiting India from other countries for purposes related to healthcare has crossed 150,000. Thus, an additional tax of 5 per cent on medical tourism will yield an estimated $100 million, which could be judiciously be then channelised as a subsidy to the deprived multitude so that the promises of “free” healthcare, which forms a part of every cliched political manifesto, can in reality be fulfilled.

The money thus generated can be used to open and develop state-of-art hospitals on the lines of Arvind Eye or Jaipur Foot. The most noteworthy point about the above mentioned medical centres is that these hospitals are not just at par with that of any developed countries' hospital but also provide medical services at nominal prices. Wouldn't it be so much better if the money generated through medical tourism is streamlined towards opening these kinds of service centres? Would it not be a win-win situation for all strata of the society? Surely, these issues need to be pondered upon...