Talks have taken place that may allow the NHS to approve medical treatments in India. Talks took place between Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and British authorities whose reaction to
proposals was described as ‘positive’.
Currently approval for NHS treatment undertaken outside of the UK can only consider approved treatment within 3 hours flying time whilst approval for certain treatments in India would stretch that to the required seven and a half hours to India.
Talks are only at the initial dialogue stage but the NHS is thought to be considering expansion of treatment that could be approved for undertaking outside of the UK but funded by the NHS.
3 Comments
January 13, 2008 at 8:36 pm
At least the food would probably be tastier I guess.
The thought of anyone having to travel that far for treatment they should be able to get in the UK, is a little depressing.
Mind you, I’ve never been to India and I have always fancied going. But perhaps not courtesy of the NHS.
January 14, 2008 at 8:12 am
I think this is an example of “commodification” whereby goods and services become commodities. It makes sense to buy your goods and services from the supplier who can supply them faster and cheaper than the competition, even if this means going outside the local area. (Consider how we now buy stuff cheaper online from the US and other countries instead of paying more for it in the shop down the road.)
Going abroad for medical treatment seems odd to us because we have been brought up on the myth that all British citizens can be treated locally. This myth has disintegrated in recent years both because of long waiting lists in the UK and medical breakthroughs abroad. Other nations have a longer history of “health tourism” and such deals would not seem so strange to them.
To someone with a life-threatening or painful condition might consider a long-haul flight as nothing compared with waiting for 10 months for treatment here.
There are questions of course: is the treatment in India up to scratch, do cultural differences cause problems for British patients, does the treatment of patients from Britain prevent local patients from getting treated, etc.?
Finally, this is another example of “off-shoring”, something that started with high hopes and has been something of a disaster. Will this happen to off-shore medical treatment too?
January 14, 2008 at 5:28 pm
It’s a global market I guess and if there are specialisms or overflows that can save the NHS money then exploring all options is presumably valid. I have no great problem with the concept though would prefer a common pan European health system for all EU members above a mix n’ match of NHS approved partners that are outside of UK borders.
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