Originally published May 11 2005
Vancouver entertainer pays for knee surgery in Asia after year-long wait for free operation in Canada
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Vancouver realtor and singer Robert Stuart Smith decided to forgo a year-long wait for free knee surgery in his native Canada, and have his surgery in Kerala, India. Smith is just one of many "medical tourists" who have traveled abroad for treatment due to frustratingly long wait times in their native countries. Medical tourism is booming in countries such as India, as they offer cheaper and quicker treatments than overburdened Western countries. The U.S. medical industry warns against treatment in foreign countries, citing risks such as poor post-operative care and weak malpractice laws, but Smith claims dedicated research minimizes the risks.
Frustrated with having to wait a year for an operation, a popular Vancouver entertainer heads to India to fix his knee, joining a growing number of Canadians who are being lured to Asia by...
Vancouver realtor Robert Stuart Smith just could not wait anymore.
But that would have meant a one-year wait for the popular Vancouver crooner who was a mainstay at the George V Pub in Vancouver's Hotel Georgia for seventeen years.
Like him, many Canadians frustrated with the growing waiting times for surgery are heading to Asia which is cashing in on the growing medical tourism industry.
So-called medical tourism has boomed in recent years, especially in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and India with foreign patients travelling both for those nations' famed beaches and routine medical procedures that are often cheaper and get done quicker than in their home countries.
In Canada, especially in B.C. several local companies with names like OneWorld Medicare, Medextra and Timely Medical Alternatives have also begun cashing in on the trend by setting up brokerages that arrange speedy off-shore health service.
A study last year found Canadians waited an average of 8.4 weeks from their general practitioner's referral to an appointment with a specialist in 12 different medical specialties, then waited another 9.5 weeks for their treatment.
India is considered the leading country promoting medical tourism-and now it is moving into a new area of "medical outsourcing," where subcontractors provide services to the overburdened medical care systems in western countries.
Government and private sector studies in India estimate that medical tourism could bring between C$1.2 billion and C$2.5 billion US into the country by 2012.
In 2003, the burgeoning medical tourism industry generated more than C$1.8 billion for Thailand's 400-plus private hospitals which saw over 630,000 overseas patients.
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