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New superbug threat can’t be ignored

DUBAI — Medical tourism from the UAE to India may not be affected due to the emergence of a ‘new superbug’ though the threat should not be underestimated, said an expert.

“It is too early to say whether outgoing medical tourism — that is to say medical tourism that involves patients travelling from the UAE to India — will be directly affected by concerns over the new superbug,” said Dr Prem Jagyasi, a renowned Dubai-based medical tourism consultant who serves the Medical Tourism Association as Honorary Chief Strategy Officer.

“The threat to health that it presents should not be underestimated as this superbug is in reality an enzyme that potentially poses a much bigger problem than if it was just one single organism. It is, in fact, a form of protein that can enter many different types of bacteria, rendering them untreatable with antibiotics,” he said. Modern medical tourism has meant that bacteria carrying the NDM-1 gene can easily be transported to the host country and this could, in theory, mean that they can spread quickly around the world, he added.

“The effect of the NDM-1 virus on global medical tourism will entirely depend on its pattern of spread. Its rapid appearance in India over the past three years and its recently observed transmission to other countries via medical tourism has shocked many scientists and as a result, has garnered a great deal of media attention,” he said.

“Certain other health scares, such as the recent fears of an H1N1 influenza pandemic, have received a similar degree of attention but have ultimately resulted in a great deal of cynicism from the public when the threat didn’t materialise and when it transpired that pharmaceutical organisations stood to make a huge amount of money from it through the selling of vaccines.

“Even though drug companies can’t really profit from this particular threat, my concern is that there will be an equivalent level of public cynicism about it,” he added. According to Dr Prem despite the risks, healthcare treatment in India would continue to be an attractive proposition for many because of the financial savings involved.

“The average cost of heart by-pass surgery in the UAE, for example, is $44,000, compared with just $10,000 in India,” he said.

He opined that medical tourism was now big business across the globe, with estimates of its value to India alone being $2 billion a year by 2012. “The Medical Tourism Association, a non-profit organisation that represents the interests of this sector, is certainly not being complacent in the face of this new threat,” he said.

“The NDM-1 concern is due to be discussed at a special session at the forthcoming Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism Congress, which is taking place this month in Los Angeles.”

Dr Prem, who is also the MD and CEO of ExHealth said that medical tourism providers needed to keep themselves fully apprised of the risks involved and even pass this on to their clients.

“Profits should never be put ahead of patient safety. There also needs to be greater communication and interaction between the health authorities of both countries, so that the UAE government is in a position to give adequate guidelines to its citizens where necessary,” he said. — asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com