DID you know that between 30 and 60 Kenyans travel to India every month to seek specialised treatment?
The number could be higher given that Somali refugees also use the Indian High Commission in Nairobi to travel to the Indian sub-continent where they seek treatment.
But all these could change soon if plans by a leading hospital in India come to fruition. Yashoda Hospitals, based in Hyderabad, India, wants to start training young Kenyan doctors. “The number of patients being referred to India has been rising over the years. We think partnering with local hospitals can further our relationship,” said Gokul Prem Kumar, the deputy general manager international services at Yashoda Hospitals.
And after acquiring the skills, the doctors will be performing the delicate operations in Kenya and reduce the number of traveling patients. Kumar said most governments concentrate on the general population and forget chronic diseases, which are expensive and difficult to treat. “It will take partnerships to control these (chronic) diseases,” he said.
The partnerships, between Kenya Medical Association and a number of medical schools in Kenya and Yashoda Hospitals, will see junior doctors trained in India.
Yashoda has already established links with Lagos hospital in Nigeria and Mulago Hospital in Uganda. One leading surgical oncologist is a visiting faculty at Mulago hospital.
The plan could be a boost to the government which recently launched a Sh38 billion project that will see selected hospitals across the country equipped with modern facilities. The government has promised to provide the hospitals with modern theatre equipment, surgical and sterilisation equipment, laboratory equipment, kidney dialysis equipment, ICU facilities, digital X-ray machines, ultrasound and imaging equipment. The facilities will be provided under an arrangement where reputable and international manufacturers of medical equipment are contracted to install, maintain and replace machines at the hospitals.
Speaking after being hosted by KMA a fortnight ago, Kumar said KMA and Yashoda were formulating policies and guidelines that will inform the partnership. Kenya has about seven universities registered to train in medicine.
Yashoda hospitals has more than 700 specialist doctors, 1,400-bed capacity, three cancer institutes and three heart institutes. Kumar said the increased reference of patients from Africa has made Yashoda establish linkages in the continent.
The hospitals in India offer sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. Information obtained from the institution’s website says its three hospitals has had more than 25,000,000 patients admissions in the last five years and performed one million major surgeries every year. The hospitals also conduct more than two million surgical procedures every year.
Dr Sachin Subhash Marda, a surgical oncologist, said technology has made India deliver services efficiently and safely. He said the subcontinent has embraced emerging technologies that continuously advance the capabilities of modern medicine. “The beauty about radio-surgery is that you can tell your patient with certainty what will happen,” he said.
He added that radio-surgery ensures a patient get minimal pain and discomfort, spends less time in the hospital and quicker recovery period. “Compared with open surgery, radio-surgery ensures that a patient resumes their regular routines faster. It is less scarring and the procedure eliminates many potential complications from conventional surgery,” he said.
The two doctors advised Kenyans to ensure they go for regular screening. “Serious complications come without pain but when the symptoms appear, it might be too late,” Dr Marda said.
-The Star.co.ke
