It is that part of the year when most hospitals offering medical treatment get booking calls. But this year, hospitals are getting fewer calls and only those who have planned their surgeries are being operated upon.
“On an average we get 40 patients in a month from various parts of the world, especially US and UK. But this time, the number has reduced and today it’s on an all-time low — just 14 to 15 patients in the hospital,” said Col M Masand, CEO Jaslok hospital and Research centre. He added, “The inflow has reduced by at least 20 per cent and only those who have their surgeries scheduled have turned up. We usually get calls this time of the year as foreigners have Christmas holidays.”
But this year fear was obvious, as the city’s leading five-star hotels where most of the tourists put up had been attacked in the terrorist carnage. Medical tourism in hospitals like Jaslok and even Bombay hospital (all in south Mumbai where five gunmen carried out a series of coordinated attacks) are badly affected.
“Many patients from overseas have postponed their surgeries and other medical treatment for a month or more. Not just international patients, even patients coming from other states in India have postponed their surgeries unless it’s urgent,” said Dr Ashish Tiwari, official spokesperson at Bombay hospital.
Col Masand, who is also the president of association of hospitals, said: “It is a serious problem and all the hospitals catering medical help to patients from abroad are admitting it and planning to deal with the problem together. Occupancy in the same period last year was full.”
“A day after the terrorist attacks and the week of 26th, we got calls from international patients asking whether it was safe to travel. The hospitals answered 15 to 20 calls a day. We assured them of safety and thankfully all the scheduled patients turned up,” said Wockhardt Hospitals CEO, Vishal Bali, insisting that this will be a short-term impact. “Though there is some fear in the minds of foreigners, they also have a lot of confidence in our country. We make the already operated patients (during that terrible week and also later) talk to those who wish to undergo surgeries, boosting their confidence. I expect only a short-term impact,” he said.
A recent Deloitte study, suggested that healthcare is a $60-billion opportunity globally. In India, the market was clocking a healthy growth with medical tourism expected to touch USD 1.5-2-billion by 2010, he said. Also last year, India received 4.5 lakh international patients; a tad higher than Singapore at 4.2 lakh in the same period to which Mumbai has contributed in a big way.