Medical tourism: Need surgery, will travel

A Canadian patient

Across Canada, thousands are on waiting lists for surgeries. In some cases those waits can last for years.

A year ago, Aruna Thurairajan of Calgary was becoming resigned to the idea of living in pain. At the age of 50, a spinal condition was making tasks like reaching over her head impossible.

"I had almost 20 to 40 painkillers a day," she says.

Her doctors in Alberta said there would be a three-year wait for corrective surgery.

"I went over to India... and I had the surgery, " Thurairajan says.

Six weeks later not only could she lift her arm, she could also endorse this cheque from the province of Alberta, reimbursing her for almost the entire cost of the surgery despite the fact it was done in a foreign private hospital.

"I had a legitimate claim, I processed it just the way they wanted, I didn't make any unreasonable demands," she says,

An out of country health services claim is little known, little used. Alberta only had 45 cases last year. It's an option for patients who simply can't get into a hospital quick enough.

Source by : CBC News Online

Reporter : Cameron MacIntosh