A few years ago one frequently heard of patients from the middle east coming to India for quality medical treatment, but of late there seem to be a lot of people from developed countries like the US, UK and Canada coming here.

At first health insurance was thought of as an expense and while that does seem to play a role in driving medical tourism to poorer countries…to my surprise I found out that there are other complex reasons…

Patients in Canada (Canada has a free government run health system, something which India can only dream of) have to wait even for an x-ray or an MRI!! I couldn’t quite believe it because here, even though we are a poorer nation, people can can get an MRI almost instantly, if they can afford it. And for an operation a Canadian might have to wait for about 18 weeks. As its free, everyone has to wait, money or not. However Canada’s dental health system runs on private insurance and patients generally get faster treatment.

The Americans feel their system is better because it runs on private health insurance. But its been exposed to some extent by Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko. The film shows how “middle-class families cannot afford medical care and profit-driven insurance giants go to extraordinary lengths to limit payments.” He has also detailed the number of people without insurance and partial insurance and also deaths due to delays in treatment or lack of treatment.

But this is the system that India is heading for! Private health insurance companies here are struggling to keep their head above water and are being finicky about payments. Seeing America’s plight, I wonder what the future holds for us. Right now industry analysts here are saying that once the system stabilizes and more people join the health schemes (few people can afford private health insurance in India) then the insurance companies will make money and everything will be all right.

Medical or Health tourism covers a wide spectrum of medical services and is the most popular form of vacationing today. Wellness and healthcare is blended with leisure, fun and relaxation through medical tourism. Medical tourism provides a ‘cost effective’ solution to off shore patients needing surgery and other specialized treatment. Medical tourism is being made accessible by the corporate sector involved in medical care as well as the tourism industry. The idea of a healthy holiday is to offer you an opportunity to get away from your daily mundane routine and get into a relaxing ambience. Medical tourism provides an avenue to enjoy the beach and the mountains and also improve your quality of life in terms of health and general well being. It is like rejuvenation on all levels - physical, mental and emotional. Let us now get into a specific area, which is in great demand in India!

Dental Care in India

There are several Dental Care packages available. However, solutions will be based on the requirements of the person and his holiday needs. There is a huge difference between the pricing (about 7/8 times when we speak of Top-end dentists in US and India for the same dental treatment procedures. Some of the facilities offered by the dental clinics are:

• Dental Scanning - Intra mouth
• Whitening of teeth
• Surgical Intervention under general anesthesia
• Prosthesis on the implant
• Vertical and horizontal bone grafting
• Ceramic caps without gold under microscopic control
• Palatal orthodontics
• Fluoride treatment for children
• Gum Grafting
• Over denture
• Combined prostheses with milling
• Maxillary surgery

(to be continued)