HIP RESURFACING SURGERY PATIENT EXPERIENCE

Healthbase customer Jacquie Brock, British Columbia, Canada

Surgery in India offers leg up
12/20/2007
Jeremy Bloom -- Staff Writer
The Powell River Peak 2007, British Columbia, Canada

Once upon a time, rock stars and celebrities went to India seeking enlightenment. It was the hip thing to do. Jacquie Brock went for a different kind of hip.

The Cranberry Lake resident is a poster child for what it means to be active and healthy in one's senior years. Except for her hip. She started having mobility problems several years ago. The situation wasn't life-threatening, but the pain of even simple movement and walking was making life miserable for her.

Unfortunately, getting medical procedures that don't involve life and death, like hip replacement , can be a painfully slow process.

"It was going downhill fast," said Brock. "In July I was in the doctor's office and he phoned a clinic on Vancouver Island. They said, 'she's on the list to get on the list to see a specialist, and we'll phone her in September or October.' Not for an appointment, just for an update on the list."

This is how she found herself in Chennai, India. Medical travel has become big business--a multi-billion dollar business by some estimates, with patients from the United States (US), Canada and Europe taking advantage of lower costs in India, Singapore and Thailand to get cut-rate dental care and surgery.

Healthbase , a US company, arranged all the details of Brock's procedure, from anaesthetic to X-rays. The company even arranged all necessary visas.

Brock left Powell River on November 10 and was back on the 29th. This was a very quick turnaround. The trip to India left Brock with expenses of about $8,000 in medical fees, and substantially more in travel costs, in addition to the 32 hours of flying each way.

It's the cost side of the equation that makes medical travel prohibitive for the average person. To date, only a handful of Canadians have taken advantage of this opportunity. The BC ministry of health doesn't track statistics, but Healthbase said they have dozens of Canadian clients, not thousands. Rather than research a specific country or company, Brock started out researching a technique. Sitting lakeside in the Cranberry home she shares with husband Bob, Brock described the procedure, known as Birmingham resurfacing .

"Instead of cutting the top off your femur and driving a titanium ball down the center of the leg bone," she said, "they resurface the socket with titanium and then top the ball at the top of your femur with titanium. It's much less traumatic, you can imagine."

"Look," she said, standing up and then raising her leg, first out to the left, then straight forward in front of her. "It's so smooth. I haven't been able to do that in years and it doesn't hurt. It's amazing."

Brock said physiotherapy should allow her to stop using canes by the end of the year. Her mobility has improved immeasurably and so has her mood.

... More at: The Powell River Peak 2007, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.zwire.com

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Healthbase is the trusted source for global medical choices, connecting patients to leading healthcare facilities overseas. Healthbase's state-of-the-art, easy to use, information rich web-based system helps you research and arrange your medical care including necessary travel and accommodation, all at one place. We arrange first class services for patients at major internationally accredited hospitals in Singapore, Thailand, India, Mexico, Panama, Turkey, Costa Rica, Hungary and expanding to Argentina, Brazil and Malaysia. The cost of surgical care at our ever growing network of affiliated institutions is typically a fraction of the cost of care in the U.S. with equal or superior outcomes.
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Over two hundred medical, dental and cosmetic procedures are available in various categories: Orthopedic procedures such as hip replacement, Birmingham hip resurfacing, artificial knee replacement, knee surgery, cosmetic procedures such as breast augmentation, face lift, rhinoplasty (nose surgery), liposuction, dental procedures such as bridges, implants, crowns, and procedures in categories such as cardiac, vascular, spinal, obesity, eye, LASIK, urology, general surgery, plastic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, weight-loss surgery, wellness and much more. The savings are up to 80% from typical USA prices.

Medical Tourism is the act of traveling abroad to receive medical, dental and cosmetic care. Medical Tourism is also called as Medical Travel, Health Tourism, Health Travel and Medical Value Travel. Significantly lower costs for best practice care is usually the primary motivation although some medical tourists go abroad for immediate availability of procedures and unavailable treatments. Patients frequently take advantage of the opportunity to vacation and tour inexpensively in the country they are visiting.
Note: All medical procedure information presented here has been obtained from publicly available medical resources and is here for reference purposes only. Healthbase does not claim to be a medical professional and does not provide any advice on any issues relating to medical treatment.

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