Mumbai, Apr 21: Eminent cardiologist Dr Ramakant Panda today said that the notion that India delivers cheap health care is not to be encouraged and asserted that it was a huge misconception.
Reacting to the remarks made by US President Barack Obama yesterday, the CEO of Asian Heart Institute said it is a misconception in 21st century that India represents cheap health care.
"Our doctors, in various fields, compete with the best in the world and India as a country today represents high quality health care and not cheap health care," Panda who operated upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a couple of years of back, said.
"The number of patients coming in from US to India is less than five per cent . While there is potential for US patients to come to India, we do not foresee a reduction in actual numbers with this initiative from President Obama," he said.
"As on today, the Middle East and Africa constitute a bulk of the patients who travel to India for medical tourism," Panda said.
"It is always easier to divide the dollar and arrive at the rupee value of a medical procedure. That is very basic arithmetic. However, the notion that India delivers cheap health care is not to be encouraged," he said.
In his sales pitch to rein in mounting deficits, Obama described health care as one of the most important pillars of the social safety net yesterday.
Obama had said, "my preference would be that you (Americans) do not have to travel to Mexico or India to get cheap health care. I'd like you to be able to get it right here in the US that's high quality."
