Thinking of India for Your Medical Tourism Procedure?

Most Americans think their medical care is the best in the world. Recently we answered that very point to "Claire" who sadly stated, "We [meaning America] have the "best" medical care in the world, and people still find it more attractive and cheaper to schedule their care out of the country."

We challenge that type of thinking with the following remarks?

We are three American directors of America's Medical Solutions and our concierge services are free to anyone coming to India. And yes, we've been patients ourselves of these same private hospitals that we recommend, so all our concierge services are of the nature western guests expect. That also puts us in a position to question the belief that America has the best medical care in the world.

I guess we'd better level with you to say that we are what many people refer to as WASP's (White, Anglo Saxon Protestants). We live in India where the health care from private hospitals, doctors and clinics far surpasses anything in America or the rest of the western world. We kid you not. We'll tell you a bit more about our services in a minute, but first . . . .

The public statistical data proves that India is far beyond the rest of the world in health care. One will go begging to find a negative comparison of the mortality and complications rates in India versus the United States. It's far worse in the US for lack of nursing and medical staff, lack of the latest equipment and procedures, to the dreaded staph infections. Staphylococcus aureus might be due to the fact that Indian hospitals do NOT allow flowers into a patient's room -- or even in the hospital. We don't know, but that's only one of the differences between the level of care here and in western countries. We are speaking, by the way, of the private hospitals. These hospitals enjoy the highest ratings it's possible to earn in the world, like the Joint Commission International (JCI). The public sector is another story, though it's climbing it's way to the top.

You can read the blogs and reports on the Internet from people who have "been there and done that." Any idea what the level of patient satisfaction is versus level of satisfaction from western counterparts? You would shudder to learn the truth. Probably the biggest factor separating western from Indian medicine is the social aspect. With such a litigious society as ours is, Indian doctors, hospitals and clinics are trying much, MUCH harder. When patients of whom we can give names and phone numbers fall in love with the house keeping staff, you know that there's a level of compassion completely unknown in the west.

We pride ourselves in finding the best India has to offer for anyone coming here, and just for starters let us suggest a $15,000 total health scan including the latest equipment not even found in the US yet (thanks to the FDA), for less than $1,000. It's coming to America, but it will be another four or more years before it gets there. That includes every kind of diagnostic medical, brain, eye, heart, orthopedic, dental, etc., tests known to man. For instance, how about an ultrafast multi-slice CT ( the fastest available today), which uses X-ray techniques generating 194 slices per second.

Get off the plane, and spend part of a day in one of these ultra modern clinics (there are five of them in Bombay -- one of them architecturally designed like the inside of an aircraft in Mulund), and you're off to see the Taj Mahal. Including the costs of air tickets, we say brazenly, it cannot be beat and currently no one is even trying to match these incredible services.

Yes, others in the world can match the medicine, to be sure! But no one we know of matches the level of care, hospitality and medicine. And no one even gets close to Indian prices.

The Times of India currently reports that 37% of the doctors practicing in America right now are Indian. By the way, check the small print on the back of your bottle of medications. You might note it's made in ... India. Of all places.

The Taj Mahal from the air early evening.
To understand what's really going on, take a look at the prices of health insurance. Markey Davis was here from Tennessee who is still a Health & Accident Insurance General Agent who quit paying his own premiums two years earlier when the monthly reached $1,600 for only he and his wife. He knew a bad hip would eventually give out, but he just started saving his monthly premiums and said:

"If you had a fine automobile and the transmission went out, would you want the mechanic just out of trade school working on it, or would you want the old Master Mechanic? We'll," he continued, "when my transmission went out, I wanted the Old Master Mechanic and that was Dr. ______."* He went on to say, "I saved $80,000, the way I figure it."

You see, hip resurfacing had been practiced in India for four years by the time the FDA allowed it to move beyond clinical trials in the States. And Indian surgeons had thousands of procedures under their collective belts when Markey needed his. His choice was not difficult at all, and he's very happy with the outcome. He walks withou a limp or any pain!

We do pickup and delivery to and from the airport and hotels in the finest of automobiles and with professional drivers. We help negotiate purchases and shopping which would otherwise result in "rip-offs" of the unsuspecting, etc. We make advance reservations at the finest hotels and restaurants or guest houses. We help design and obtain any ticketing desired from professional providers and we've even been known to bring a McDonald's®burger or Dominos Pizza® into patient's rooms. We know of long term housing at reasonable rates for those who need IVF or other lengthy procedures, and the finest private hospitals, doctors and clinics the world has ever seen. Think of a Five Star room in a hospital and you'll get the right idea. There is simply nothing on this scale in America.

While clients are under no obligation, as in a fine restaurant, we average a 15% ( + - ) gratuity if our client believes our services have been worthwhile. This keeps us on our toes for all the best that India has to offer without any axes to grind. And since we have lived here 24/7/365 for so many years, it's hard to fool us. We are your bridge to Asia and your wish is our command. It's also a little hard to fool a patient as to whether our services were appreciated or not.

Very truly yours,
Don Wood, Co-Director
Craig Phillips, Co-Director
Mark Sharp, Co-Director
Bombay (Mumbai), India
America's Medical Solutions, Pvt. Ltd.
*Doctors are not permitted to advertise under Indian law.