8/4/11
Today we visited Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital which is known around the world for one of India’s largest medical tourism hospitals. Medical tourism shifted from the U.S. and Europe to Asia. Global healthcare and wellness is a $4.5 trillion market. This hospital specializes in cardiac and cancer. This hospital will accept anyone around the world with or without money. They do not turn anyone away. The reason it started was because there are so many poor people in India and their children were not getting proper treatment.The thing that makes this hospital and many other hospitals in India and Asian countries unique is that they provide life saving procedures. The reason many international people come to these hospitals is that there is a high cost for treatment, long waiting periods, and non-insured patients. For Africa, the main reason is because there isn’t available medical care.
There are many things that make Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital stand out. First, India is home to the largest number of doctors, nurses, and medical technicians in the world. It is the most affordable treatment center in the world. The hospital has world class facilities and the latest technology. India’s healthcare industry is expected to be $2.3 B by 2012 and it is growing by 30%! Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital is the largest and most respected hospital in India. It has 55 hospitals and clinics with 5000 beds. We visited Bangalore city hospital. This hospital has 3000 functioning beds. There are 40 heart surgeries done per day which is the maximum number in the world! It is also the largest post operative intensive care unit with 80 beds. Patients from 75 different countries come to Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital. They also specialize in tele-med and have saved over 100000 lives! This hospital is also a joint commission (USA) accredited hospital. The doctors here are 10 times more experienced than U.S. doctors and the machines are exactly the same.
There are huge plans for the future. They are in the process of building hospitals in the Cayman Island, Malayasia, and Slovania. Within the next 7 years their 5000 bed facilities will be 30000 beds! There will be 5 health cities across India. Dr. Devi Shetty is the founder of this wonderful hospital. We had the pleasure of meeting with him and speaking to him about healthcare. His plan is the India will be the first country in the world to dissociate healthcare from affluence. His target is to get a heart surgery from $1800 to $800 which is already cheap. In his opinion, you can provide quality healthcare without money and he is defiantly doing it! We asked him how he is able to do all this and he responded, “we have to help ourselves”. As we learned the Indian government only spends 1% of the GDP on healthcare. It is amazing what this hospital has done for the locals, people in Africa, and all over the world.
-Jessica