Category Archives: Health /Medical Treatment For Overseas Treatment

Edmonton  :

Canadian patients seeking relief from various illnesses are among the major groups feeding a troubling growth in unproven and expensive stem-cell therapies offered at private clinics around the world, a University of Alberta researcher says.

Health law expert Tim Caulfield told a U of A audience that most such clinics are likely frauds, engaging in “science-ploitation” to persuade people to pay thousands of dollars for treatments of questionable value.

“This is a big industry. It looks like thousands of people are doing this, and the major source of patients are Canada, the U.S., and the United Kingdom,” he said Tuesday during a forum on the growing phenomenon of medical tourism. “The clinics offer therapies for almost everything, including ALS, Alzheimer’s, cancer, anti-aging, autism. We don’t even know what causes autism and yet they have a treatment for it?

“There is no proof any of this stuff works,” he said, adding that 43 per cent of patients who visit stem-cell clinics are children.

However, two Edmonton-area men challenged Caulfield during the lecture, saying they had received successful treatment for multiple sclerosis at a clinic in India.

A man who declined to give his full name said he spent $30,000 in July for travel, accommodation and treatment that included the controversial experimental procedure of opening narrowed neck veins. Doctors also grew stem cells derived from his bone marrow and injected them into his spinal cord.

The 39-year-old said the results were undeniable. A “cognitive fog” cleared almost immediately. The right side of his body, which had been partially paralyzed, regained a wide range of motion. His energy level increased dramatically, to the point that he hopes to take part in a body-building competition this fall.

“I’m a businessman, so for me it’s all about risk and reward,” he said. “I did my homework. To assume all of us who do this are stupid peasants who can’t think for ourselves, it’s insulting.”

The man said he researched private clinics for two years before deciding on one that seemed to have the top specialists and the best results. Given that the treatment he was getting in Alberta could only promise to slow the disease, he felt the $30,000 investment was worth it.

He said he was so happy with the therapy, he encouraged his friend to go to India as well. That friend, who returned two weeks ago, said the treatment also cleared his brain fog, resolved his bladder issues and allowed him to walk better.

“My left leg had been paralyzed, but when I woke up after the first treatment, I could move my whole left foot,” said the man, formerly a home inspector. “I get upset because our medical system is not helping us here at home, and now people want to take away this option from us as well.”

Caulfield said he often draws derision from patients whenever he criticizes private stem-cell clinics.

“If people go in with their eyes open, then it’s hard to argue against, but I’m worried people aren’t aware of the scientific data,” he said.

He said there is great promise that legitimate stem cell therapies will be developed one day, but virtually none are close to fruition. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped private clinics from trying to capitalize on the public’s fascination with the topic, which is often exacerbated by positive media coverage, Caulfield said.

He said he and his team did a study in 2008, which was repeated last year, to gauge what clinics are offering compared with what the scientific literature says. The group found the clinics use sophisticated online advertising, often using images of people in lab coats to promise their therapies as successful, safe, and routine, “which is wrong, wrong, wrong,” he said.

He said patients have suffered physical as well as financial harm, including cases where people have raised money from their friends, families, churches and communities to pay for treatments.

As for trying to control the market, Caulfield said this is difficult because it is largely international and Internet-based. He said some governments are moving toward tougher regulations and improving education, but more should be done. Among the steps, health care professionals should become more involved in the issue, and the scientific community may need to tone down its rhetoric about the promise of stem-cell therapy, he said.

Another participant at the forum, Dr. Chris de Gara, raised the issue of what happens when Alberta patients come back from a private clinic with unfavourable results and then ask the public system to fix the problem.

De Gara is part of team running a “revisional” bariatric clinic at Royal Alexandra Hospital, catering to people who have undergone anti-obesity treatments that have failed. Some have paid $15,000 to $20,000 for out-of province procedures such as a gastric bypass that often do not deal with underlying psychological or nutritional issues.

“I have three patients in hospital at this moment in time, who suffered consequences of their medical tourism,” he said. “They come to my clinic and I have to do some additional surgery at a huge cost to the system. I am responsible to the human being sitting in front of me, so I must deliver care. But at a societal level, is it up to the Alberta taxpayer to pay for things that didn’t go quite right?”

Caulfield said the issue extends to other patients, such as organ transplant recipients who come home and ask the government to pay for anti-rejection treatment.

“Where do you draw the line? We are starting to see that with, ‘You chose to smoke, you chose to overeat, you chose to be born to poor parents who didn’t go to university.’ ”

Other speakers at the event included Harvard law school scholar Glenn Cohen, who talked about the challenges of curbing the illegal organ transplant market in places such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

Y.Y. Chen of the University of Toronto offered a critique of the supposed benefits of medical tourism to the host countries.

Patients from all over the world are travelling to Latvia to seek treatment from cancer and the Virotherapy Centre has developed a programme to ensure their treatment is as comfortable as possible.

DNE Editor in Chief Maher Hamoud visits the Latvian facilities

The treatment of cancer is constantly changing and many scientists are involved in trying to find a cure for one of the deadliest diseases we are confronted with in modern times. The small country of Latvia is at the forefront of one of the latest treatments for many forms of cancer that is attracting patients from all over the world.

It all began with Latvian scientist Aina Muceniece who began her career in 1945 at the A. Kirchenstein Institute of Microbiology. After years of study the first laboratory for virotherapy as a treatment for cancer was established at the institute, which led to the development of the medicine Rigvir.

Over the years several clinical trials were conducted that proved the safety and effectiveness of Rigvir in stage four cancer patients.

Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union the testing and use in treatment of Rigvir stopped for a few years, but its effectiveness in the treatment of several kinds of cancer, from prostate to bladder, colon, melanoma and lung cancer, had been proven. In 2002 the work began again and since 2005 Rigvir has been used in treatment in hospitals and available in pharmacies all over Latvia. Rigvir activates and normalises the immune system of the patient and is well-tolerated and safe.

Aina Muceniece’s daughter followed in her mother’s footsteps and heads the Association of Virotherapy of Latvia which aims to promote virotherapy and the training of doctors to use the medication. As Rigvir proved to be more and more successful and interest from patients all over the world grew, the Latvian Virotherapy Centre was established to provide treatment and support for those patients.

Currently Rigvir is used in hospitals all over Latvia in the treatment of cancer and has been accepted as treatment for melanoma patients by insurance companies since 2011.

Patients from all over the world are travelling to Latvia to seek treatment and the Virotherapy Centre has developed a programme to ensure their treatment is as comfortable as possible. When a new patient seeks the help of the centre the first consultation is done by phone or email and a complete assessment of the medical records and tests is conducted when the patient is still in their home country.

The clinic then takes care of all the travel, accommodation and medical arrangements for the patient and makes sure that any additional screening and tests are organised to take place in the Latvian hospital. A full treatment plan and follow up is created by the doctors of the clinic after which the treatment starts.

The first round of treatment will take place when the patient is in Latvia, but the follow-up treatments can normally take place when the patient is back at home in their own environment. The arrangements to deliver Rigvir to the patients are handled by the clinic as well, making the whole experience as comfortable as possible for the patients.

source: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com / Daily News Egypt / Home> Lifestyle> Current Article / February 06th, 2013

With a highly competitive international healthcare system that is the envy of many western countrie, Bangkok has developed reputation as a medical tourist destination. By Mark Bibby Jackson / Photo by Nick McGrath

David Towers walked into a hospital in Cambodia for what he assumed was a routine medical check up. That was where the drama started.

“They carried out a series of standard tests and told me I’d suffered a heart attack,” Towers says.

While detaining him for further tests, the hospital summoned his wife and asked her to pay for a three-night stay.

“I lay in bed feeling like [a] hypochondriac for three days,” he says. “Nurses kept telling me I looked fine, but the doctor insisted I was near death’s door.”

Eventually, the fortysomething Scottish expat evacuated to Thailand where an ambulance was waiting at the airport to rush him to Bangkok Hospital. On arrival, he was wired up to machines by a team of heart experts in the Accident and Emergency Unit. Within minutes they diagnosed that there was nothing wrong and he had not suffered a heart attack.

Towers’ hospital bill, which amounted to around $18,000, was covered by his medical insurance — not that that covers the stress and anguish caused by the initial misdiagnosis.

The Hospital of Choice

Stories like this explain why expats across the region choose Thailand for both routine and emergency procedures.

“It’s not uncommon for a patient to come here from one of those countries [Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia] and get a different diagnosis or treatment,” says Kenneth Mays, senior director of hospital marketing and business development at Bumrungrad International Hospital.

The odds of an accurate diagnosis are higher in Thailand, but that doesn’t mean patients from elsewhere should jump on a plane for basic medical care.

“You should have a doctor you can see about your routine aches and pains close to home,” Mays says. “If you run into more serious problems, patients should consider coming to a hospital like ours.”

Ruben Torel founded Medeguide, an online directory that allows users to search for top doctors at leading international hospitals around the world. He says Bumrungrad is by no means alone in the standard of medical care it provides its patients.

“The top international hospitals in Thailand are competitive with those you would find in Europe, the US and Australia,” he says.

Regional Migration

Bangkok also stands out in Southeast Asia for the level of service at its hospitals.

“The top international hospitals employ an army of support staff, including interpreters, concierge services and even valet parking,” Torel says.

Another advantage is speed. In Bangkok, visitors can walk into a hospital and see a specialist quickly, something Torel says is “unheard of in other parts of the world”. Patients sometimes arrive from countries where universal health care also means unseemly wait times.

All clinical doctors are Thai, as they have to pass medical examinations in the Thai language, but many train overseas and know the needs of international patients. Some hospitals have foreign medical coordinators and others — including Bumrungrad, Bangkok Hospital, BNH Hospital and Samitivej — are accredited by the Joint Commission International, the US-based agency regarded as the gold standard for healthcare providers worldwide.

That helps Bangkok attract expats as well as locals from neighbouring countries.

According to Torel, Cambodians and Burmese come for diagnostics and specialty medical services, like cancer treatment, cardiac surgery and neurological disorders. Vietnamese are much more selective, and tend to travel for cancer treatment, neurosurgery and specialty medicine.

“Our medical costs are typically far less than what might be found in Europe or America,” says Dieter Burckhardt, assistant marketing communications and branding manager of Bangkok Hospital.

Spoilt for Choice
The number of international-standard hospitals and the range of treatments and services they provide has created a very competitive environment. Local Thais make it a point to shop around for the best value, creating a beneficial system that trickles down to overseas customers, according to Mays.

“The international patients get the same prices as locals and they benefit from that competition,” he says.

But Torel says the playing field is not quite so level.

“While there are rules and regulations against dual pricing, any expat who lives in Thailand will tell you what’s on paper and what’s done in practice are two very different things,” he says. “Hospitals are not immune to this practice, and even if the hospital’s prices are fixed, doctors’ fees are not.”

And with so many hospitals marketing themselves as ‘international’, it can be difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff.

“It’s a buyer’s market and from a consumer perspective that’s a good thing, but from a healthcare consumer perspective, too much choice can be a confusing thing,” says Torel, who established Medeguide in response to hearing “thousands” of patients asking for the same thing — the name of a good doctor

source: http://www.asialifemagazine.com / Home / January 31st, 2013