Surgery :: India emerging as Surgical tourism destination

India is emerging as an important destination for Canadian patients who are tired of long surgical wait time and are increasingly prefer to have their operations performed in the country.

Reported by PTI, Clarke, 34, affected with severe chronic back pain likely caused by work injuries, found no one in the Canadian health care system able or willing to ease his suffering.

“I’ve seen three to four surgeons over almost three years,” he said. “Each time, I’ve waited a year to see these surgeons and once I did see them, they had nothing to offer. Nothing at all.” He then decided to try out a television ad offering surgery in a matter of weeks at a hospital in India. The ad was for a company appropriately called Surgical Tourism Canada, a Vancouver-based company founded in July 2005. The company offers surgery overseas for about USD 15,000, with four weeks of rehab in a five-star hotel.

Clarke remembered what his first thought was when he saw the ad: “If I don’t have something happen within the next year or two, I could be in a wheelchair and there won’t be anything that can be done about it. So this opportunity, I have to grab it.” Clarke left for the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India. There, tests quickly showed he had two severely damaged discs.


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