My name is Gene C. I came to India to Apollo Hospital to seek help in hip resurfacing .

The primary reason that we came outside of the US was the cost . We don't have healthcare insurance. Financial costs for medical care are very great in the United States. And also, my wife and I have traveled to India many times; we have friends in India.

So when we heard about Apollo Hospital we thought we would do some research and see about having a surgery here.

Interviewer: Did it come up to your expectations?

Gene: It really met up to every expectation that we had. We felt that the care that we received was extremely professional, very competent and I have been very very happy with the result even though I have been now only 5 days out of my surgery. It has been a wonderful experience.

Dr. Vijay Bose - his skills and his competence are very great. I understand that he was involved in the development of this procedure - hip resurfacing. Immediately when I went to talk to him for the first time, he answered all my questions. He explained everything very well and put me at ease about the whole procedure.

I was really amazed when I got here into the hospital. In fact I remember when they wheeled me into the surgery room and I was laying there looking around at all the equipment and technology , I was just really amazed.

Our hospital room has been very comfortable. It's broad, spacious, we've had lots of room. We have a table with a computer, we have plasma television. My wife has had a bed to stay in here with me so she can help me and watch after me. So, we've just been very very comfortable. And the service staff have all been very very friendly and very helpful.

We've had no problems with communication. Of course, we have a little advantage in that we travel to India a lot. Indians speak English with a little bit of an accent but all of the staff speak very good English. They were very very attentive to every need that we had. They were very very friendly and we are just very very thankful for that.

We are leaving this afternoon after our hospital stay for a stay at a resort hotel along the coast . We are looking forward to that. It will be nice to just do a little bit of a recovery for the next 5 days.

And we will certainly be coming back to India. As I said we love to come to India. We like to visit often. If there is a need in the future for any medical attention, I'll definitely consider coming back to Apollo Hospital.

In considering how much I probably saved from the amount that I would have spent in the United States, I can't say for sure but I know it would have run into the tens of thousands of dollars. This is one of the reasons why we chose to pursue this avenue of health and we are very very thankful for how it has worked out and we feel financially we have gotten tremendous service for the cost that we have given.

We heard about Healthbase when my wife and I began to research about hip resurfacing. Actually I was scheduled for total hip replacement about 6 years ago and I just wasn't comfortable with the whole procedure. I didn't see the value of removing the entire hip joint. So we began doing a lot of research and over the years I started hearing about hip resurfacing. So when we started searching on the Internet and looking for hip resurfacing, we came across Healthbase.

[Birmingham hip resrufacing vs. Total hip replacement ]

We contacted a representative of Healthbase who was extremely helpful. And we just decided that this was the best route that we could go.

We appreciate Healthbase for all that they have done for us. They made our transition into the hospital very easy. We had a contact here immediately and they were already expecting us. Everything was already arranged for us. We feel that the Healthbase organization did a tremendous service to us.

[Find out what is involved in the arrangement of a medical travel trip ]

Interviewer: Would you recommned Healthbase to anyone?

Gene: I would certainly recommend that anybody considering surgery in India would contact Healthbase. Get information from them, ask them any questions that you have, I think you will find that they will answer very quickly any queries that you have and get you very quick answers.

I am aware that people would be skeptical because a lot of our friends as soon as they heard I was coming here for surgery they said, "Why are you going to India?" And so we began to explain to them. And one thing that was helpful was I could show them where they could check on the Internet, they could check out the Healthbase organization, they could check out Apollo Hospital. They could check out the world-class certification that they surgeons and the hospital have. And as soon as they looked at all those things, they were put very much at ease. So I would encourage anyone considering this kind of procedure or any kind of surgery go through the process, get the information. I think when you find out more, you will be very satisfied.

The care we have received here has just been very tremendous. From the personnel, the staff at every level, they have been very very friendly. We have not had any question that we asked that wasn't very quickly answered. The accommodation has been wonderful. I stand amazed as I look at my final X-Ray, it was a perfect job. I would just let anyone know that the skill and the care that you are going to receive here is going to be tremendous.

Case studies: Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery in India