Building bridges into hostile terrains with healthcare

Naveen Talwar was to go to Kabul about a month ago, to participate in an out-patient screening and surgical camp.

It was cancelled because of a blast in Kabul, and it now stands rescheduled for September, says Talwar, director-orthopeadics, Rockland group of hospitals.

Doctors from different hospitals are taken to regions like Iraq, Afghanistan, UAE and Kazakhastan, to expose Indian medical skills in places that are not accessible, says Vinay Aggarwal, of Shinon Collaborative Consultancy, a healthcare company.

But it’s not just Indian doctors, says Ashok Mahajan, of Rotary’s International Polio Initiative. If required, religious leaders from Uttar Pradesh are willing to go to Pakistan to help spread awareness on polio vaccination, says Mahajan, heading Rotary’s Muslim Ulema Committee (UP).

From help with polio to running a hospital in Afghanistan to screening patients in Iraq – Indian skills in healthcare are building bridges into hitherto untapped regions, becoming good-will ambassadors for India’s medical expertise.

Unlike the United States or the United Kingdom, familiar with Indian doctors and nurses - in Kazakhastan, “they had heard of Indian pharma but not Indian hospitals,” says Aggarwal, who defines his job as a “medical tour operator.”

Through a tie-up with the Kazakhastan Health Ministry, Shinon brings doctors to train in India, besides undertaking “masterclass sessions” in Kazakhastan with Indian specialists, he says.

It is expensive initially to take doctors across, but after hospitals realise the benefits in training, exposure and brand building, they foot their part of the bill, he says.

Shinon helped staff of the Afghanistan hospital with a team of Indian doctors and administrative staff, and spends about $ 30,000 per month, supporting this team. It also gets 15 percent of the revenues made by the hospital, he added. Shinon’s revenues last year were Rs 1.5 crore, he said. 

Medical tourism

Government provides free healthcare in several of these countries, but the wait-list is about six months, he says.

People from Kazakhastan go to South Korea, three times more expensive than India; from Afghanistan, they go to Pakistan, less expensive than India; and from Iraq, they go to Jordan or Turkey. India is 20 percent less expensive and has better success rates, he points out. 

Shinon looks to bring these patients to India on the promise of less expensive, good-quality treatment.

Countries have different requirements, he explains. In Kabul and Baghdad, for instance, the camps see blast and mine injuries. They are screened, those requiring surgeries are sent to India. Patients pick up their own tabs, he adds.  

The camps are in designated safe or “green zones”, but there are near misses, like being caught in a cross-fire or missing a blast by minutes, he admits.