On Medical Tourism and Public Health System
January 30th, 2008
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In a rather rambling article in the Hindustan Times, Lalita Panicker attacks the ”theory” that medical tourism can help the Indian public health system,
But, we hold that medical tourism is a panacea to the ills that beset our public health system. Let us look at the figures. Today, 150,000 foreigners come to India for healthcare and spend about Rs 1,500 crore. In ten years, this will rise to Rs 10,000 crore. Anticipating this rush of patients, the private health sector has effectively lobbied for lower tariffs for equipment and tax breaks. Already 100 per cent FDI is allowed in health-related services. Be assured that a considerable amount of this equipment will be to cater to the needs of foreign clientele and that this will in all likelihood push up costs even for the well-off Indian patient.[link]
Panicker is right of course: the trickle down benefit for the public health system would be minor and should be discounted. But the question is who exactly holds this view that medical tourism is the panacea for all ills of the Indian public health system? One is not sure even the medical industry would hold such extreme views.
As far as tax subsidies are concerned, government has long followed that logic. Private hospitals in Delhi and other metropolitan cities are alloted land at throwaway prices on the condition that they will reserve certain % of beds for the poor. This policy has been a disastrous failure. The reasons are not far to seek as inefficiency is inbuilt into the system: the benefits accruing to the hospital (cheap land, waiver of property taxes e.t.c) are a one time benefit while public cost of these subsidies can only be recovered in the long term. Therefore, the hospitals have an incentive to flout the law and due to a weak regulatory framework, they are rarely held accountable. The solution is pretty simple: abolish all subsidies and force the hospitals to acquire land at market prices. Indeed, it is exactly this model the Delhi Development Authority has recently adopted in Delhi.
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2 Responses to “On Medical Tourism and Public Health System”
Foundations of Health Science Occupations Education by Health Tips January 30th, 2008 at 10:06 pm #
[...] On Medical Tourism and Public Health System [...]
Don Wood February 13th, 2008 at 10:49 pm #
Hi Rohit,
Your solution is the right one, and it may surprise you to learn I’m one of three principals of the medical tourism comapany located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, America’s Medical Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (www.americasmedicalsolutions.com).
All one has to do is truly study social medicine anywhere in the world. The long lines for “fair distribution” throughout the social world has contributed to as many deaths as there have been cures. The DDA has done right and now we need to follow that example all the way through. There is simply no magic pill that taxes will ever cure. Only competition and free enterprise should be prescribed.
And I couldn’t put my pen down before I gave credit to the marvelous hospitals who are lifting the world’s eyes toward India’s medicine. And of course, it IS trickling down, albeit at an IV’s pace. When the hospitals are required to go, as Wockhardt did in Mumbai, to the outskirts of town, they have helped develop the rest of the city and that’s been good too.
Don