Pakistani teen undergoes liver transplant in India

[livingdead]

is the NHS in uk? free for foreigners? I had no idea

they used to(at least thats the accusation).. now the govt is closing the loophole..
its a moral issue, if somebody falls sick when in UK, can you deny the person treatment, should hospitals try to ascertain the eligibility of receiving free treatment when they should focus on delivery of healthcare.
Some are suggesting mandatory insurance, and allowing only emergency care(to foreigners).

 

[supun1]

Some are suggesting mandatory insurance,

There's your solution. And likely solution for sri lanka too.

must show valid insurance cover for the period of the visa.

its a moral issue, if somebody falls sick when in UK, can you deny the person treatment, should hospitals try to ascertain the eligibility of receiving free treatment when they should focus on delivery of healthcare.

This a rather a legal problem in sri lanka than a moral one. We get a lot of 'back packer' style tourist when they get sick,
if you are registered as a private hospital, you're prohibited from denying to people in an emergency care. (this applies to locals as well, and the vast majority of these expenses are unrecoverable. )
if you are registered as a public general hospital, you cannot deny medical care under any circumstance. the health ministry isn't going to pay for foreigners, so this is eating into our own health budget.

 

[livingdead]

There's your solution. And likely solution for sri lanka too.

must show valid insurance cover for the period of the visa.


This a rather a legal problem in sri lanka than a moral one. We get a lot of 'back packer' style tourist when they get sick,
if you are registered as a private hospital, you're prohibited from denying to people in an emergency care. (this applies to locals as well, and the vast majority of these expenses are unrecoverable. )
if you are registered as a public general hospital, you cannot deny medical care under any circumstance. the health ministry isn't going to pay for foreigners, so this is eating into our own health budget.

UK has introduced additional fee for certain visa(as health surcharge) but they cant do it for EU countries which have reciprocal arrangement(with their NHS systems), and NHS is losing money due to that.
about lanka, I doubt the cost is that big, any numbers?

 

[Tshering22]

Everything is about cost and benefit.

The benefit you get is 'feeling proud' does everyone in your country replicate this view? without a proper open debate we dont know.

I would be outraged if our government was spending money without quantifiable tangible public benefit. (and for the most part we already are, at pretty much every government spending )

There are definitely a lot of political benefits for this, if it has been funded by the Indian government.

The private hospitals are only concerned about the money. I agree.

For examples, some emergency cases that come from countries like Afghanistan and some African countries are taken over by Ministry of External Affairs who funds the operation procedure. The other option is some international UN or other NGO or foundations foot the bill.

The tangible benefit is largely political.

If you're talking about the private hospitals, all they care about is money.

Americans are rich, and they come to india.

No they are middle class as per their country's standards. It is just that US healthcare system is ridiculously expensive and many people cannot afford its astronomical costs. Here for 1/5th the amount they can get admitted to any of the finest world class hospitals in India, recuperate from surgery and also take time off to do some sightseeing and then return back to their home country. Their overall cost for travelling and the surgical procedures combined is far lesser than the costs in US.

Also, Westerners are generally pampered like crazy here. So that's a bonus point.

 

[RISING SUN]

If these costs are not recoverable, surely there should be a public debate on this before public funds are used for purposes that do not have any benefit to the public.
Btw is that hospital public or private?

its a private hospital just checked, this is good for india. good export.

Not necessarily, strategic benefits outweight the monetary for such a low price.