US companies send employees to Asia for surgical procedures!
Reports from the US say that at least 40 American corporations have signed a health plan which allows sending employees abroad to India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, saving more than 80% on the cost of medical procedures.
United Group Programs, a health insurer in Boca Raton, Florida, began offering the programme six moths ago as a result of skyrocketing medical costs in the United States where an estimated 16% of GDP is spent on healthcare.
Newsweek reported that more than 150,000 North American and Europeans are currently seeking medical treatment abroad, giving instances of the savings of an angioplasty which costs $US50,000 in an American hospital being performed for only $US6000 in India.
Newsweek also quotes Abacas International, a leading travel facilitator, estimating that medical tourism to Asia could generate up to $US4.4 billion dollars by 2012 with for invasive surgeries, preferred destination including India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia where large hospitals, like the Apollo chain in India and Bumrungrad in Bangkok in Thailand, actively market to American, European and Middle Eastern patients.
Medical web sites promote partnerships with nearby luxury hotels for post-operative recovery and limousines to pick up patients at the airport.
Newsweek says Bumrungrad has treated 400,000 patients from 150 countries, highest in the world, and plans to double its outpatient capacity to 6000 a day, taking just 17 minutes to see a specialist once a patient walks into the hospital.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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