Medical Treatments in India

Medical Tourism India (Health Tourism India ) is a developing concept whereby people from world over visit India for their medical and relaxation needs. Most common treatments are heart surgery, knee transplant, cosmetic surgery and dental care. The reason why India is a favourable destination is because of its infrastructure and technology in which it is in par with developed countries. India has some of the best hospitals and treatment centers in the world with the best facilities.

Medical Treatments in India

Heart Surgery
Cardiac care has become a specialty in India with the latest innovations in medical electronics with unmatched expertise in leading cardiologists and cardio-thoracic surgeons.

Medical Institutes in India are well equipped to handle all phases of heart diseases from the elementary to the latest clinical procedures like interventional cardiac catherisation and surgical cardiac transplants.

Attention: The cost of these treatments and surgeries in India is one fourth of what it would cost in the western and the European Countries.

Orthopedic departments in India are equipped to perform surgeries like hip replacement, knee replacement and fusion. They can perform cartilage and bone transplantation using minimally invasive techniques. A knee replacement will cost about 4000 pounds in India and about 10,000 pounds in the UK. Replacing both knees costs $12600 including the cost of the implant and two weeks hospital stay. Hip replacement costs about $5400 with a week’s stay in the hospital. Prices are indicative and vary in different hospitals.

Cardiac Procedures
India is at the forefront of providing superior cardaiccare, both invasive and non-invasive, with specialty hospitlas like Escorts Heart Hospital, New Delhi, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology in Bangalore, the Cardiology Hospital in Kanpur, the Heart Hospital in Calicut and the Sree Sudihindra Medical Mission Hospital in Cochin and Naraya Hrydayalaya Bangalore. They provide comprehensive cardiac care, right from preventive tests to assess your heart condition to robotic surgery. Their success rate is about 98%, at par with any hospital in the world. The cost is just 25% of what it would cost in any country outside Asia.

Non-Invasive Cardiology
This includes procedures like Echocardiography, Color Doppler, Nuclear Scanning and Coronary Angiography. Other diagnostic techniques include intravascular ultrasound and closing of holes in the heart without surgery.

Invasive procedures
These include angiography, angioplasty, open heart surery and pediatric intervention procedures. Other procedures include coronary artery stenting, balloon valvuplasty, rotoblation and coronary atherctomy. An RF ablation costs about $2000. Let us understand some of these invasive procedures.

Angiography
This is an x-ray of the blood vessels using a dye. The purpose is to find out blockages in the arteries of the heart, detect atherosclerosis and to map the heart before surgery. Usually the femoral artery in the leg is punctured and the cardiologist inserts a catheter through this to the heart. It is a simple procedure done under local anesthesia. This costs about $570.

Angioplasty
In case the angiography reveals atherosclerosis, angioplasty is used to insert a balloon in the artery to remove the blockage. The balloon is mounted at the tip of a catheter inserted in to a blood vessel at the elbow or the groin.On reaching the blocked artery the surgeon inflates the balloon removes the deposits and then withdraws the catheter and the balloon. This costs about $4200 with three days of hospitla stay. Angioplasty with a regular stent costs $6300 and about $8000 with a medicated stent.

Bypass
Coronary bypass improves blood flow to the heart through the coronary arteries. It costs about $8000 including hospital stay. It is done through a vein in the leg or from the internal mammary artery, or from an artery in the wrist. This creates an alternate path to carry blood to the heart by bypassing the blocked artery. This costs about $7000 including hospital stay of 8 days.

Open-heart surgery
The surgeon opens the patient’s chest and works on the heart or clears the blocked arteries. Here a heart-lung machine supports the patient while surgeons work on his heart. The operation takes about 5 hours and a hospital stay of a week. The patient is observed first in the ICU and then in the general ward. The incisions disappear after some time. But you must give up smoking and observe a healthy lifestyle to avoid recurrent blockages in your arteries.

Inserting a pacemaker costs about $5400 upwards and valve replacement costs upwards of $9500. Implanting cardiac defibrillator costs upwards of $16000.

Vascular Surgery

This is a common procedure in most hospitals. Vascular surgery includes operations to remove the gall bladder, spleen and hernia repair. All hospitalslike Apollo Hospital Delhi and Manipal Hospital Bangalore have trained surgeons toperform these operations at alesser rate than in countires in the West.

Neuro Surgery

The department of Neurology in India has excellent backup from Electrophysiology, Laboratory, Neurosurgery, Neuro-radiology, Neuro Intensive care, Neuro nursing and Neuro-rehabilitation units.

We are equipped to manage all acute and long term Neurological problems. Indian neurological surgeons have an excellent record in surgeries like

• Replacement arthroplasties
  
• Diagnostic and operative arthroscopy
  
• Spinal surgeries including
  
• Use Harrington Rod Instrumentation for scoliosis, corrective and reconstructive procedure
  
• Poliomyelitis and cerebral palsy
  
• Micro-vascular surgical procedures
  
• Automated percutanneous lumbar discectomy etc.

Neuro hospitals are well equipped with highly sophisticated computer-driven technology used for removal of appropriately selected brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations and other abnormalities.