Kolkata: Several private hospitals, which have multiple admissions and surgeries of Bangladeshi patients lined up over the next week, are yet to hear from them or their families. The latter are being contacted and asked if they would like to reschedule their visit as many might be keen to avoid travel due to the ongoing turmoil, said hospitals.
Peerless Hospital has 20 surgeries next week. "These patients are due to get admitted between Saturday and next Friday, but none has contacted us so far. It seems most are likely to defer travel, and once they get in touch, we will reschedule their dates," said CEO Sudipta Mitra. The hospital had fewer than 50 Bangladeshi OPD patients on Friday. None was admitted. "Till Aug 5, when the trouble started in Bangladesh, we would have 20 patients admitted on an average and 150 OPD patients daily," added Mitra.
Ruby General Hospital has surgeries of two Bangladeshi patients next week, but none has confirmed admission yet. "We will call and mail them three days before their scheduled admission and enquire if they can travel. In case they can't, we will offer a reschedule," said chief general manager (operations) Subhashis Datta. The hospital received just three Bangladeshi patients at its OPD in the last three days and has none admitted.
Narayana Hospitals have seen a drop of around 50% in OPD numbers and admissions since Aug. The hospitals are providing visa invitation letters to patients, said Narayana COO R Venkatesh. "Our team is trying to help the patients with all required support for smooth visa processing. For a few cases, they are even coordinating between the treating physicians in Bangladesh and the experts of Narayana Health. Our five information centres across Bangladeshi cities are also acting as a bridge," added Venkatesh.
After a drop in Aug, the situation had somewhat stabilised since Oct at BP Poddar Hospital. "Last Dec, other than OPD consultations and medical management, we performed 27 total knee and hip replacements for Bangladeshi patients. This year, we received a plan of close to 30 patients. But most of them have requested to reschedule the dates," said group advisor Supriyo Chakrabarty.
Desun Hospital has employed its International Patient Care Team for advising patients to plan their visits based on urgency. "For emergency cases, we are facilitating immediate appointments. We are also providing visa invitation letters within an hour," said director Shaoli Dutta.
Kolkata's only notable source of medical tourism, being Bangladesh, is facing severe challenges, said Prashant Sharma, chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce Health Taskforce. "India, while being big on MVT (Medical Value Tourism), is mainly concentrated in pockets like Delhi, south India and West India. If the present disruptions continue, we will lose Bangladeshi patients to southeast Asian countries," said Sharma.