Britons flock to India for fast, cheap surgery

Britons flock to India for fast, cheap surgery
By Peter Foster in New Delhi
(Filed: 27/08/2005)

Mrs Holman's keyhole surgery on a damaged knee would cost up to £9,000 in the UK. But at the Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, the same operation is just £1,400.

However, for many patients such as Mrs Holman it is not the affordability but the speed and availability of service that are India's biggest draw. She wanted her life back.

"When my whole leg went numb and I was housebound on crutches, in despair one night I went to A&E to try to see a duty orthopaedic surgeon. I couldn't do any of the things I loved - walk the dog, go to the gym, ride a bike.

"In the end I saw a house officer who basically said 'go home and wait for your operation', which we were told would take 'months'."

A call to a Warwickshire-based company, The Taj Medical Group, began the process that ended in Mrs Holman having a surgery appointment in three weeks.

"We were able to check out the surgeon's qualifications on the internet - he was trained in Britain - and he

e-mailed us with his mobile phone so we could chat through any concerns. It was incredible," said Mrs Holman's husband, John.

Mrs Holman landed back at Heathrow this week and left the aircraft without the aid of crutches, which she left at the hospital in Delhi for use by a charity.

"I wouldn't hesitate recommending coming here," she said. "Our experience has been brilliant. I came to have one knee done but in the end I've had the other fixed too, to save me coming back again."

Across the corridor from Mrs Holman's private hospital room another English family had also decided that paying out some of their savings was preferable to waiting their turn on the NHS.

Karen Knott, a design engineer from Dorchester, said her 14-year-old son, Elliot, was walking "five inches" taller after a £4,700 operation on his spine to correct an injury suffered in an ice-skating accident last New Year's Eve.

The same surgery would have cost £25,000 in Britain or could have been done for free on the NHS after a 17-week wait to see a specialist and a further nine months for surgery.