UK NEWS

'FLY PATIENTS TO INDIA TO CUT NHS QUEUES'

Patients could be flown to hospitals in India to ease waiting lists

Monday February 25,2008

By Mark Reynolds

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(15)

NHS patients could be flown 8,000 miles to hospitals in India to ease waiting lists, it was claimed yesterday.

Operations such as hip replacements and heart surgery would be funded by the taxpayer with patients from Birmingham and Leicester – where there are large Indian communities – spearheading the scheme.

India’s health minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the idea had been discussed with Hugh Taylor, permanent secretary at the Department of Health, whose response was “positive”.

Mr Ramadoss said he was “confident” that NHS flights to Asia could begin within months.

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Dr Ramesh Mehta, of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, said yesterday that India could offer the same quality of treatment as Britain but at a much cheaper price.

India attracted 150,000 “health tourists” last year. UK patients can pay up to £13,000 less for a private heart by-pass operation in India and plastic surgery, such as liposuction, can cost as little as £670 compared to £4,500 in Britain.

The DoH admitted that the possibility of sending NHS patients to India had been discussed but insisted there were no immediate plans to put the idea into action. A spokesman said: “The Government is very clear that the NHS will not pay for health tourism.”

WELL POSTED MAGGIE

27.02.08, 10:02am

Nalin has not got a clue. The reason we became short of doctors was the extremely high standards the BMA placed on recruitment of medical students in the UK (I do not think that this was a bad thing in itself). This is one of the reasons the new world like the USA, Canada, Australia etc are pleased to get our young doctors and offer them attractive packages.

The situation created a shortage here so we took many third world foreign doctors of medicine who would not have even qualified here. I know some would have but this was and still is a panic reaction. We even imort them without proper spoken English language tests.

The solution, dogma aside, is clear. If we gave tax incentives to private medical schemes, for both individuals and companies, the burden on the NHS would bereduced by up to 33% and the NHS would benefit instead of declining as it has been for years. Many people now can afford private medical insurance but do not take it up either because it seems expensive for individuals with no tax relief and company schemes are actually treated as a taxable benefit.

As well as reducing the strain on the NHS, this approach would have kept more doctors here (for reasons like junior doctors are not paid well in the NHS but are paid better as they are promoted so could switch between private and state jobs without our losing them to higher paid jobs abroad). A further solution involves reducing the entrance standards for medical students (just slightly in the A level grades) so more of our own bright students would get in. Supplementing this by encouraging more mature students already shining as paramedics and nurses (many turned down for medical school) to train as doctors would also be helpful. Late developers can be very valuable and this is an underutilised resource!!

• Posted by: TrueBlueSpirit • Report Comment

NALIN

26.02.08, 8:41pm

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and what makes you think that you are right?
Secondly why does ,every time someone opens their mouth about Indians or anyone else they have to be or bordering on racist , what a load of b...s, (it rhymes with walls) If you are right then there is something sick about this country when you cannot speak or write before some Smart Alec will put their interpretation on it whether they are right or wrong and cause trouble where there was none. Whatever did we talk about before they all came here when we had normal conversations, you think OUR NHS would have collapsed in the 70's do you? With the sheer weight of people what do you think is happening to it now? Were you hospitalised or had any experience of hospitals in the 70's or do you get your info from books and papers?
This country does have a habit of muddling its way out of trouble if it is allowed to.

• Posted by: Maggie • Report Comment

WELL WELL THE PENNY'S DROP

26.02.08, 12:41pm

The Government increase taxes on airports and flying in general due to climate change so we will think twice about flying away on holiday in the name of global warming. Then guess what they say they are going to fly us to India to see a doctor.
We don't hear of France, Germany and other EU countries taking immigrants like our country.
So that indicates that the European Government have selected Britain to take in all foreigners from all other countries, choose how he kicks he can do nothing about it and that's is why he will not hold a referendum (scared too)

• Posted by: gaf • Report Comment

IMMIGRANT DOCTORS!

26.02.08, 10:18am

Some of the foolish comments made about India is unjustified, and some of it borders on racism.

Had it not been for these immigrant Indians/Pakistanis and south-east Asian doctors, who were brought in the NHS in 1970's, we would have seen the end of NHS by now.

It was these doctors who have, with lower salaries offered to them by NHS, has allowed the NHS to survive so far.

All these Asian, English speaking, doctors are now almost of retirement age, and we are now seeing the consequences of not having enough indigenous doctors wanting to take their places because of the treatment given to the doctors by this government.

A newly qualified doctor in this country prefers to works in the new world - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in Europe.

Hence, we, the British, should be grateful to these foreign doctors and their countries of origin, and give them their due respect. Do not forget the fact that it is countries like India, which is still offering the best and competitive medical and dental services in the world.

Even now,visit any GP surgery or the NHS hospital, and you will find that these are all run by the immgrant communities form Asian and Middle East, whereas, we, the British, have gone abroad for greener pastures!

• Posted by: Nalin • Report Comment

THINKING BACK

25.02.08, 11:54pm

In 1947 were they not rioting in India for Independence. Having got it many trouped over here, now we have sent jobs out there putting our own people out of work, their doctors arrived here in numbers in the fifties, learned in our hospitals and know we have the offer to go there to be treated,
I am sure it would have been simpler if we had all stayed where we were in the first place or if there were less people from overseas anyway we would not need to go anywhere else for treatment we could use OUR OWN NHS

• Posted by: Maggie • Report Comment

WHAT A JOKE!

25.02.08, 11:53pm

Having been forced to pay for my own surgery in France, because the PCT would not fund it, even though the surgeon said I needed the operation. if I need medical treatment connected with my operation, I am refused that help on the NHS.

Bear in mind that it is FRANCE, i.e. an EU country where I had my operation, not a third world country.

Yet, the NHS are prepared to fly people over to India? Would the NHS refuse to treat patients who have had their ops there - for fear of being sued after correcting some other doctors' mistakes?

That is the excuse I would be given.

One rule for the immigrants (because it is they that would be most likely to benefit from this) and other for us BRITISH born people. Especially the ENGLISH.

ENGLAND/ENGLISH appearto be dirty words now.

• Posted by: SandieL • Report Comment