Could Pakistan become a medical tourism destination?

Local doctors argue that Pakistan should promote medical tourism as it offers excellent treatment at very low costs. It used to attract more patients from overseas, but after legislation came into place to regulate the illegal trade of selling kidneys, numbers plummeted.

Local doctors argue that Pakistan should promote medical tourism as it offers excellent treatment at very low costs. It used to attract more patients from overseas, but after legislation came into place to regulate the illegal trade of selling kidneys, numbers plummeted.

At present, almost all medical tourism is outbound. Pakistanis travel abroad for treatment even when Pakistan has specialists and high-quality hospitals where comparable care is available. The cost of infertility treatment abroad can be many times that at home. It does get a tiny handful of patents from the UK and USA and the Middle East, but most foreign patients are of Pakistani origin.

Dr Samrina Hashmi of the Pakistan Medical Association argues there is huge potential for Pakistan in medical tourism, as the cost of treatment in Pakistan is only 50% of what doctors and hospitals charge abroad, “In the past, a sizable number of such globetrotting patients came here for kidney transplants. But it is not cost that puts people off Pakistan, it is safety.” Dr.Hashmi says medical tourism can be a huge opportunity for Pakistan if the government improves the security situation and the infrastructure, and then promotes the country to target markets.

The real stumbling block is that in Pakistan, some doctors work as agents for foreign hospitals; earning commissions if they send affluent Pakistani patients for treatment to their patron hospitals. Dr Mian Atif Fayaz has an office in Lahore and promotes Bumrungrad International hospital in Thailand online and via email. His company, globalhealthtravel.pk, a web-based company gets a processing fee from the patient and a fee from the hospital. Doctors say there is nothing illegal about marketing for hospitals based abroad, but it does little to promote Pakistan at home or abroad.

One of the problems, a lack of quality control, is being tackled. India’s National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers will now help hospitals in Pakistan in getting accreditation. Dr Giridhar J Gyani of the National Accreditation Body for Hospitals says, “Four hospitals have shown interest in accreditation by NABH. It is in the pre-assessment stage. The two government hospitals include the National Institute for Child Health and Aga Khan University Hospital and the private ones are the Indus hospital and Memon hospital.”

Curiously, the deal began with the initiative of the ‘Aman ki Asha’ a campaign for peace between India and Pakistan. The NABH is clear that many changes and improvements in standards will be needed by these hospitals before they are given an NABH accreditation.

Despite being illegal, a network of organ trading and kidney tourism still operates in Pakistan. The kidney business in Rawalpindi and Lahore is estimated to be worth a billion rupees a year. There is no real enforcement of the law and several hospitals are suspected of still being involved.