Telegraph: Record numbers go abroad for health
Record numbers of Britons are flying abroad for medical treatment to escape NHS waiting lists and the rising threat of hospital superbugs.
Thousands of "health tourists" are going as far as India, Malaysia and South Africa for major operations – such is their despair over the quality of health services.
The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration with NHS waiting lists are fuelling the increasing trend.
More than 70,000 Britons will have treatment abroad this year – a figure that is forecast to rise to almost 200,000 by the end of the decade. Patients needing major heart surgery, hip operations and cataracts are using the internet to book operations to be carried out thousands of miles away.
India is the most popular destination for surgery, followed by Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Poland and Spain. But dozens more countries are attracting custom. Research by the Treatment Abroad website shows that Britons have travelled to 112 foreign hospitals, based in 48 countries, to find safe, affordable treatment. ...
Michael, surprisingly I'm seeing a lot more Americans than Britishers coming here for treatment. The most popular operations are heart bypasses and even the complete evaluation - cardiac cath, followed by stenting/bypass as a package. Another popular treatment is for infertility. While they are at it a lot of smart patients also get their teeth fixed and whatever plastic surgery they need...
Posted by: samlcarr | Oct 30, 2007 at 11:30 PM
Of course the US has five times more people so if there were only half as likely to go as Brits they would still far out number the Brits. It would be interesting to see what the stats are on why people travel to India for medical services by country of origin wouldn't it?
Posted by: Michael W. Kruse | Oct 31, 2007 at 05:41 PM
It's a fascinating study. It's also true that the Brits are dismantling their NHS as fast as they can. The government there is committed to making medicine into just one more business, a route that I think will prove to be disastrous.
It's something that I suspect that the US government has also been toying with vis the VHS. All that's really needed is to 'allow' something sufficiently nasty to happen and then decry that privatisation is the only solution.
To my suspicious mind, the inordinate delays in the NHS are being 'allowed' to happen while at the same time the govt. is supposedly increasing spending. In other words, the system at one time did work pretty well, but for some reason is now becoming more and more inefficient - I wonder why?
Our hospitals (here in India) are not asking any questions - they are extremely happy!
Posted by: samlcarr | Nov 01, 2007 at 02:33 AM