April 21: The United States President, Mr Barack Obama’s diatribe against the Indian IT industry had sent shockwaves to the boardrooms of Indian technology companies. But his Wednesday’s advice to his fellow Americans to desist from going to India for medical treatment is considered a blessing in disguise by the Indian healthcare industry.
If the President of the US himself has admitted that his citizens are going to India for medical treatment, it speaks volumes about the high quality of healthcare being provided by the Indian hospitals, says Dr Prathap C. Reddy, the chairman of Apollo Hospitals. “My preference would be that you don’t have to travel to Mexico or India to get cheap healthcare. I’d like you to be able to get it right here in the United States,” Mr Obama said on Tuesday in Virginia. Dr Reddy says “We should be proud of the fact that the US President has said this.” He said there won’t be any effect on the Indian hospitals as the healthcare is an individual decision.
Dr Vivek Desai, chairman of CII Western region healthcare division agrees, He said “Healthcare is an individual subject and people will decide on their own given the high cost of medical services in the US.”
He said that the Indian hospitals get most of their foreign patients from poor countries and not from the United States.