FRUSTRATED AUSTRALIAN PATIENTS GOING TO INDIA FOR SURGERY TOO

Sick Australians are playing Russian roulette with their health by travelling overseas for cut-price surgery. [They play Russian roulette by going to Australian public hospitals too] Foreign hospitals – once seen as an option only for plastic surgery – are now operating on a fast-growing number of Australians wanting standard medical procedures. Knee and hip operations, prostate surgery, dental work and ear, nose and throat surgery can all be done instantly – instead of waiting lists of five years or more in Queensland. Australian "medical tourists" are travelling to India, Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, where some hospitals advertise "First World service at Third World cost".

Brisbane company International Medical Tours, which organises holidays to Thailand for cosmetic surgery, says demand for other treatment is so high it is branching out into tours offering elective surgery. IMT managing director John Uittenbogaard said inquiries for knee and hip operations had soared.

Figures obtained by The Sunday Mail show Bangkok's 550-bed Bumrungrad Hospital treated more than 5100 Australian passport-holders for elective or cosmetic surgery in the first five months of this year.

But Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons president Dr Norm Olbourne said the thousands of dollars that patients saved overseas could come at a cost. "I'm flabbergasted that people would play Russian roulette with their health," Dr Olbourne said. [Better to stay in Australia and get treated by "Dr. Death", I guess] Dr Olbourne said there was no after-care and many times people returned to Australia with problems they expected to be fixed on Medicare.

Australian Medical Association state president-elect Dr Steve Hambleton said while there were excellent surgeons and clinical schools in Asia, there were risks. They included the difficulty of judging quality of service and hospital equipment standards and the lack of post-operative care, Dr Hambleton said.

Liberal state health spokesman Bruce Flegg said long waiting lists for elective surgery would drive more Queenslanders overseas. Dr Flegg said that some already were so desperate they were mortgaging their homes for local private operations and would be tempted by cheaper and faster overseas treatments. "Our system is failing and we don't have the capability of providing the necessary medical treatment for the whole population," he said.

Dr Hambleton said there were still lengthy waiting lists for knee, hip and eye surgery and the State Government should offer realistic waiting lists so people could make informed choices before going overseas.

Dean of Surgery at the University of Sydney, Professor Andrew Coats, said the number of Australians seeking surgery overseas would increase as part of the globalisation of trade. Prof Coats said Dubai had major healthcare groups of first world standards offering high-volume, high-technology medicine. "You can roll it up into a holiday and still come back with savings," he said.

A spokesman for Queensland Health Minister Gordon Nuttall urged people to be cautious about seeking surgery overseas. The Government committed $130 million over three years to bring down elective surgery waiting lists. The number of Queensland's private hospital admissions is 25 per cent higher than the national average and the State spends the least on health of any State or territory. But Queensland has better elective surgery waiting times than any other state, according to a Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing Report.

Simon van Putten flew to India to have a knee reconstruction rather than wait possibly years to have the operation in Toowoomba Hospital.
The retired Stanthorpe boilermaker, 67, was so pleased with his operation two months ago, he is considering returning for surgery on the other knee.
Mr van Putten said that while he was driven to go to India by the waiting time in Queensland, rather than the cost, there were huge savings to be made. He spent $8600, including airfare and medical fees, and says in Australia the same procedure would have cost him at least $12,000 as an intermediate patient (private patient in a public ward) and up to $27,000 by going private.

Mr van Putten, who did not have private insurance, was told he was on only "a waiting list for the waiting list". He realised the risks involved, but he researched the hospital and surgeons before he went.

Within 24 hours of contacting the hospital by email, he was discussing his case with an Indian surgeon. Mr van Putten and his female companion stayed in a large air-conditioned room in the international section of the Apollo Hospital in Chennai. "The nursing was unbelievable – nurses in every two hours, sisters every three hours and the director of nursing at least once a day," Mr van Putten said

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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