Patients from UK hope on India for treatment

London, Apr 16: India is heading the list of favourite medical destinations among almost about 50,000 UK patients who travelled overseas last year for cosmetic, dental or other treatment.

According to a study by Treatment Abroad, a website promoting "medical tourism", 22,000 patients travelled overseas for dental procedures, 14,500 for cosmetic surgery, 9,000 for the kind of treatments typical of National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists, and 5,000 for infertility treatment.

The website claims this is "the first attempt to try to measure the numbers of patients travelling abroad from the UK for treatment". If the figures are right, the company estimates that Britons last year spent about 135m pounds on overseas treatment, excluding travel and accommodation.

However, the findings carry a large margin of error coming from an e-mail survey of 500 clinics marketing services to the UK, to which only 132 -- just over one-quarter -- replied.

Among the most popular treatments were dental implants, not provided on the NHS except as part of reconstructive surgery - followed by dental crowns and veneers, with breast augmentation, tummy tucks and facelifts heading the cosmetic surgery list.

Some patients were going abroad for hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery, all NHS procedures.

Following India in the list of popular medical destinations, were Hungary and Turkey.

UNI