India has not only pipped China to become Asia’s most popular destination for conducting clinical trials, but also emerged as a favourite country attracting a large number of medical tourists from the world, according to a high-level 10-month long study by India’s Planning Commission.
“The report said while a heart bypass surgery would cost a patient $6,000 in India, the same surgery would cost the person $7,894 in Thailand, $10,417 in Singapore, $23,938 in the US and $19,700 in Britain. A cosmetic surgery would cost $3,500 in Thailand, $20,000 in the US and $10,000 in Britain. But the same surgery would cost only $2,000 in India, the report said.
” ‘What is significant is that the hospitals established by the private corporate players are of world class. They have not only the latest medical technological facilities but also the services of Indian doctors and nurses with a high degree of proficiency,’ said the group’s chairman, Anwarul Hoda, who is the member (International Economics) in the Planning Commission. The Indian government has moved to provide visa facilities for the medical tourists, it added.
“The main clientele comes from the SAARC countries but an increasing number of NRIs settled in the US and Britain have also been availing of the healthcare services in India, it said. Already some hospitals are entering into alliance with international insurance companies for making it possible to send patients to India for treatment, it added.
“The report said the competitiveness of India in medical value travel is enhanced by the attractiveness of the alternative systems of medicine, particularly ayurveda. Over 1.5 lakh medical tourists travelled to India in 2002 alone, bringing in earnings of $300 million. Since then, the number of such travellers has been increasing by at least 25% every year. A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-McKinsey report projects that earnings through medical tourism would go up to $2 billion by 2012.
“According to the American Medical Association data, a spinal fusion would cost $62,000 in the US, $5,500 in India, $7,000 in Thailand and $9,000 in Singapore.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.