Syndicates of ‘middlemen’ have been active at different hospitals both government and private with the mission of persuading patients to seek treatment at hospitals in India, Thailand and Singapore, in exchange of commission.
Many hospital staff-turned-middlemen attract rich patients for taking treatment in hospitals and clinics of those countries. The middlemen assure all the facilities from issuance of passports, getting visas to safe stay in those countries.
For the job they get handsome amount of money from foreign hospitals. Many Indian hospitals have opened ‘international wings’ for the purpose. This correspondent has met some of the members of such syndicates working in Bangladesh.
One gentleman has been working as a middleman for Indian hospitals some years. He has organized agents at different hospitals in Bangladesh. “If any patient is found to be suffering from protracted illness, capable to bear expenses at Indian hospitals, then agents assigned in our hospitals inform me. Then I approach the patient or his or her relatives for treatment at targetted hospitals in India,” he said.
The middlemen send patients to different Indian hospitals including Peerless, Birla, Tata, Appollo, Apex General Hospital and Ganga Ram. he frankly said that some hospitals in Kolkata depend to some extent on Bangladeshi patients as 40-60 per cent of their revenues come from them.
The patients who have earlier taken treatment at Kolkata hospitals get offer from those hospitals to take new patients there on commission basis, said another agent. Having his treatment for urological problems he has turned into a professional medical guide, assisting patients from Bangladesh for getting treatment in Indian hospitals.
About 50 per cent Bangladeshis who visit India go for medical treatment, said a source at the Indian High Commission.
The third highest number of foreign patients in some hospitals in Bangkok are from Bangladesh. Some hospitals of Thailand and Singapore have also set up offices in Bangladesh to cooperate with those seeking treatment in those countries. One official of Bumrungrad hospital of Bangkok talking to this correspondent recently said that the highest number of foreign patients of the hospital are from USA followed by Japan. A team of Bangladeshis have been appointed in the hospital to act as interpreter, he said adding some Bangladeshi restaurants have also been set up. One person who had sought treatment in Bumrungrad said that he found treatment at the hospital as good as doctors and nursing staffs are very much caring.
One commission agent of Mount Elizabeth hospital said that he had arranged visit to Singapore of media people of Bangladesh at the cost of the hospital to promote its business. A recent study by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) forecasts the medical tourism sector will more than double from the present $800 million to $2 billion by 2015, and patient inflow will shoot up from 850,000 to 3.2 million in the same period.
The thriving medical tourism has also prompted a host of private players in healthcare, including global brands like Gleneagles, Columbia Asia, and Wockhardt, to set up hospitals and ‘medicities’ spread over acres of land with add-on facilities like caregiver accommodation, pharmacies, and restaurants.
To compete with them, regional facilities like Hinduja Hospital or Beach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, Peerless Hospital and R N Tagore Institute for Cardiac Treatment in Kolkata have opened international business divisions. Many Indian hospitals have tie-ups with Bangladeshi doctors and healthcare facilities. Many doctors also refer Bangladeshi patients to Kolkata doctors or hospitals. Some doctors also suggest treatment in Bangkok and Singapore depending on affordability of patients.
The travel and tour agencies also design plans for medical tour of India. Heavenly Tour is one such tour agency, which regularly makes arrangements for the patients and relatives for visit to Kolkata and different Indian hospitals.
One official of Heavenly Tour talking the media said that annually they make arrangement of India visit for about couple of thousand patients.
