Foreign patients throng Assam for treatment

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 18: In an initiative to promote medical tourism and telemedicine, a leading health care centre in the city has facilitate treatment of 10 patients from Nigeria. Six of the patients are still undergoing treatment while four had successfully been cured.

This was stated in a press meet on Sunday by Dr. Rahul Baruah, the Director of Baruah Health Care Centre, which facilitated the treatment of the Nigerians.

“Baruah Health Care Centre has initiated the Intertiol cases of Medical tourism & Telemedicine in Assam which was in sync with the election manifesto of the present government which could prove to be a vital initiative in the development of the state and making our state presence in the are of Medical tourism and Telemedicine business in India. We have successfully treated 10 intertiol patients from Africa in our panel hospitals in Guwahati. Telemedicine also proved to be a blessing to the patients of Assam travelling out of Assam for medical treatment, through telemedicine Baruah Healthcare centre has successfully treated more than 100 Patients of Assam,” Dr. Baruah said.  He further informed that the health centre is getting positive response from people of Assam and other countries. “So more foreign patients are giving their approval for preference for Assam as a medical tourism destition and we believe it will open the floodgates of growth opportunity not just for healthcare providers, but also spawned a service industry with a gamut of players involving tour operators, facilitators, agents, hospitals, online portals and, of course, doctors, raking in the greenbacks from the spin-off accrued through foreign tourist arrivals in Assam for medical treatment. The extremely low cost of healthcare services compared to that in other parts of India and over the years, confidence levels in the quality and efficacy of healthcare services in Assam has been instrumental in boosting the number of intertiol patients coming to Guwahati,” Dr Baruah remarked.

Today, India is positioned 2nd in the world in foreign tourist arrivals for medical treatment where cities like Cheni, Bangalore Delhi, Hyderabad etc are the major players in India.  “But with the planned and systematic approach in Guwahati we can register our city as the promising player in the field of medical tourism in the upcoming days. Our facilities based on minute detailings like airport pickups and drops, and providing patients with food based on his or her particular religion, their proper accommodation facilities etc has a very generous and warm impression on the foreign patients. We also provide tourism facilities if intertiol patients want to have a look at the tourist destition and nearby areas. Apart from this, we have a round-the-clock special cell, dedicated for intertiol patients, to serve their requirements. We take care to provide excellent accommodation facilities to the patients so that they can feel at home. We make sure that foreign patients are escorted with trained professiols who act as guide, translator and adviser on various issues during their stay in Guwahati,” concluded Dr. Baruah.