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| Driven to India by waiting lists |
Free
patient goes private in subcontinent
A MAN who once supplied ambulances to the NHS has made a 5,000-mile
trip to India to seek private medical care.
Tony Bogush, 66, from North Hill in Highgate, who ran a private
ambulance company until his back condition forced him to close down
three years ago, has been receiving treatment at Manipal Hospital
in the southern city of Bangalore.
Speaking to the New Journal from his hospital room in India, Mr
Bogush (pictured in India), who flies back to London today (Thursday),
said lengthy waiting times at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead
had forced him to make the trip.
He said: “The Royal Free said it would be up to 18 months for
an operation. I looked online and came up with different places
for having operations and saw how much cheaper it was.”
Mr Bogush arranged his flight with a company specialising in Indian
trips for health tourists two weeks ago and booked himself into
the Manipal, a private hospital, after being impressed with what
he saw.
He said: “I was seen the next day. The facilities here are
comparable to the best in London. They have the most amazing operating
areas and everyone speaks perfect English. The food is great –
there is a choice of western and Indian food.
“There is a spare bed in every room in case you have visitors.
“There is round the clock care – it seems like there is
one nurse to every patient. You cannot compare it to the Royal Free.”
Although Mr Bogush has not received his hospital bill yet, he expects
the cost to be a fraction of the price he would have paid for equivalent
private care in London.
He said: “A good London clinic would costs around £350
a night. Here the cost is around £26 a night. A lot of the
doctors here have been working or trained in England and they find
the waiting lists and the MRSA situation in the NHS disgraceful.”
While it was the operation waiting times that prompted Mr Bogush’s
trip, he has indefinitely postponed any operation on his back, following
advice from his Indian doctors.
He said: “They wanted me to have the operation in London but
the doctors here said an operation would not guarantee a reduction
in the pain.
He said he could get my pain down by 30 to 40 per cent without operating,
so I agreed.
“They have given me different ways of coping with the pain
– through yoga, physiotherapy, learning how to breathe properly
and cognitive therapy – which has helped tremendously.
“If I decide I need an operation in the future, I will come
back here.”
A Royal Free spokeswoman said: “The routine waiting time for
a first appointment with a neurosurgeon ranges between four and
15 weeks, well within the national target of 17 weeks. The waiting
time from referral to an in-patient appointment ranges from nine
to 10 weeks – the national target is nine months.” |
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