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Rising medical bills sending East African patients abroad

Wednesday May 20 2015
DOC

East African hospitals have been advised to find ways of marketing available medical services to potential clients within and outside the region. PHOTO | FILE

Rising medical bills and long wait-times within East African hospitals are forcing many patients to travel abroad to seek medical treatment, a regional health conference was told on Tuesday.

The 4th annual East Africa Healthcare Federation conference, which was held in Kigali, Rwanda, on 17-19 May, was told that the outbound medical tourism is also intensified by the perceived low quality of medical services at home and limited proactive marketing.

"For a number of years we have seen patients travelling abroad and spending money that could have been invested in our economy," Sam Were, an official from the Kenya's health ministry said in a presentation on emerging trends in medical travel and tourism in the East African region.

An estimated 100,000 East African patients travel to India annually to avoid long waiting lists and the high costs of treatment at home.

India is among countries that offer the cheapest medical care in the world. For instance, a kidney transplant in the country costs $17,000, including travel costs, compared to about $20,000 in East Africa.

Treatment for cancer costs $25,000 in India while patients in East African hospitals are likely to part with at least $150,000 for the entire treatment.

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The conference participants noted that most patients who travel abroad are those seeking treatment for pediatric eye diseases, cornea diseases, refractive surgery, vitreoretinal diseases, high tech cataract surgery and orbit and oculoplastics among other diseases.

READ: Cost, accessibility and expertise drive the numbers

During the conference, it was noted that outbound medical tourism can be reversed if East African countries partner with overseas hospitals to tap into their expertise.

"The first step is to look for partnerships with overseas hospitals that are adept at treating particular diseases," said Dr John Nkurikiye, a top Kigali ophthalmologist who a few years ago inked a partnership deal with Dr Agarwals's Eye Hospitals of India to set up a branch in Kigali.

Dr Nkurikiye said he looked to India because the populous Asian country "is doing well" in the field of ophthalmology.

Such partnerships, he said, have improved the quality of treatment for eye diseases in Rwanda – thereby decreasing the number of eye patients travelling abroad and a surge in the number of foreigners seeking treatment in Kigali, particularly from Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The most important thing is to satisfy the local market. If patients at home trust you then you will easily get clients from other countries," Dr Nkurikiye said.

East African hospitals and clinics were also advised to find ways of marketing available medical services to potential clients within and outside the region.

"We have to invest in marketing of our services for patients to know that they don't have to travel abroad for services that can be accessed at home," Dr Nkurikiye said.

According to the ophthalmologist, Rwanda is now offering attractive packages such as discounts on RwandAir airfares for "outside" patients seeking treatment in the country, which has recently boosted inbound medical tourism, with 777 visitors recorded in 2014.

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