Medical tourism is the new wave of outsourcing from India

[Herman Munster]

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/14858.asp

People in the United States are going to foreign shores to get medical treatment. The same will start soon from some Euro Zone countries. There are close to 44 million Americans without health insurance. When some of these Americans are hit with chronic or life threatening diseases, they are helpless. Right now the public health net safety system take care of them. The cities, counties and the municipalities bear the cost of uninsured people.

So, when you need medical treatment, where do you go? You go to the same place that the (pharmaceutical manufacturers) are going – offshore. Close to 750,000 Americans will go offshore for medical treatments abroad in 2007. The number is staggering 6 millions by 2010. And the Americans very comfortable with Indian American doctors in America. Their first choice is Indian medical system if it can be catered for hem.

When it comes to post-operative care, India far out-rank the United States and Europe in terms of how they treat the patient afterwards. So, this is going to be a huge business.

The wave has just started. It will be a huge boom for India in the next twenty years – far bigger than the IT boom.

[Deja Q]

1. Given the cost of living in India, the prices Indians pay is high...

But it's little for us to pay.

Part of the globalized imbalance.

Problem is, this "globalization" is very selective in terms of which areas of the uneven playing field get evened out.

[Richard D]

2. Yup

I talked with a friend who was in India who got a full on physical including a full blood panel and diagnostic ultrasound and a whole lot of other tests taking almost an entire day for the grand total of $65.00. The blood tests alone here would have been several hundred. He also got what would have been several thousand dollars worth of dental work here for a couple hundred there. Not major stuff, but still made the trip worthwhile as part of a tourist oriented trip.