19 SPECIALREPORT
providing accommodation, transportation and meals.
One of the Nigerians gave his name as Chinedu, the other declined giving his name but called himself a health facilitator. Chinedu said the business is lucrative and he received three to six patients daily.
“I’m not a tout. My business is to assist patients to get accommodation, transportation and Nigerian meals. Until recently, I used to have between 10 and 15 patients daily, “he said.
“The hospital has a marketing team that goes from one country to the other. The medical services are superb because of the stable power supply,” he added.
Another Nigerian, Emeka, said his business was to bring patients from Nigeria and other African countries.
“This business is dependent on how the contact comes. In a year, I can deliver at least 20 or 30 patients from Nigeria and Kenya,” he said.
“I get paid based on negotiation. After treatment, the hospital would give us a certain percentage which I cannot disclose. But our commission does not in any way affect the bills,” he said.
In an interview, the head of International Patient Services of Max Healthcare, Barkha Jain, said 35 percent of foreign patients were from Nigeria.
“At the moment, the number is less by about 20 percent because of the currency problem in Nigeria. We used to have 35 percent of our foreign patients from Nigeria, followed by Kenya and Sudan,” she said.
She however refused to disclose the number of Nigerian patients in the hospital.
She said international patients were charged higher bills than their Indian counterparts because of the value added services like transportation, accommodation and translators in some cases.
Because of the high number of patients from Nigeria, she said plans were on to establish facilitation centres in Nigeria.
“People travel across all-year-round for medical tourism but patients reduce in July and August. Political, economic and weather conditions affect medical tourism,” she said.
A Nigerian diplomat who doesn’t want to be named said Nigeria topped the chart of medical tourism in India because of its population and poor infrastructure.
“It has to be like that because Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. The country has poor infrastructure in the health sector. The country’s infrastructure is in the pockets of individuals,” he said.
The diplomat said if the infrastructure challenges in Nigeria were addressed, the country could meet the health needs of its citizenry.