Hyderabad emerges as major healthcare hub

There are myriad reasons for the city of pearls to emerge as a major destination for foreign clientele. Quality of service, affordability, local connections, direct flights, culture, cuisine and ease of getting services are some of them

Hyderabad: ALONG with Delhi, Mumbai and other big cities in India, Hyderabad has emerged as a major healthcare hub for foreigners, attracting thousands of patients every year.

Though the coronavirus pandemic has interrupted the flow of foreign patients, Continental Hospital CEO Riyaz Khan said as many as 3 lakh patients used to visit the city for treatment during a normal year.

"We used to get a good number of patients for all kinds of treatment like oncology, orthopedics, cardiology, spine surgery and others. Patients used to come from West Africa and Middle Eastern countries like Yemen, Oman, some parts of Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh," said Khan.

According to the doctor who is managing the 750-bedded JCI accredited hospital located in the financial district, there are myriad reasons for the city of pearls to emerge as a major destination for foreign clientele. Quality of service, affordability, local connections, direct flights, culture, cuisine and ease of getting services are some of them.

Cost of healthcare in India is still lesser when compared to Singapore or Thailand, proving to be one of the key reasons for this popularity. When Hyderabad is pitted against other cities within India, Khan said the IT city offers healthcare at 30 per cent to 35 per cent lesser cost compared to Delhi or Mumbai.

Besides the cost factor, Khan said the ease of arriving in Hyderabad, finding hospitals, local cuisine and culture are also major pull factors.

Multiple educational institutions and universities such as the University of Hyderabad, Osmania University, EFLU and others host a good number of foreign students from these countries, all of whom spread the word about the city's medical infrastructure.

"These students play a key role in attracting their family members, friends, acquaintances and people known to them to the city," he highlighted.

Though Hyderabad offers medical treatment at lesser cost than Delhi or Mumbai. Direct air connectivity and other convenient factors are a major draw for patients to Delhi.

The tech city is also dotted with several flagship hospitals of many famous hospital chains such as Apollo Hospitals, Yashoda Hospitals, Care Hosptials, AIG Hospital, Global, KIMS, Kamineni, Medicover and others, all of which offer services to many foreign patients.

Baghya Raju Koppu, a visiting paediatrics consultant at Continental and Apollo hospitals and the managing director of Amrutha Children's Hospital on the city outskirts, said he always found it easy to treat foreign patients as they were very cooperative and respectful towards the doctors.

"We speak in English to treat Europeans, Americans and Britons. Patients from several other countries also speak English," said Baghya Raju, who also treated some Greek patients in the city. He observed that many expatriates from the US, the UK and other countries living in the city and working in the IT companies come for treatment, including teachers working in the international schools.

However, he said all these were good old pre-pandemic days and wished for normalcy to return and the Covid disruption to end. (IANS)