Wockhardt Hospitals in Mumbai and Bangalore have been approved by the Columbia-based Companion Global Healthcare Inc (CHG) which is interfacing with Bluecross Blueshield of South Carolina to provide inured Americans treatment from of its two medical centres in the country.

CHG has now added both these facilities at Bangalore and Mumbai to its overseas hospital network. Wockhardt with its expertise in healthcare has made India a destination for advanced surgical procedures like cardiac surgery, joint replacement and spine surgery for patients from the developed world particularly the US and the UK which is around 10 per cent of its patient base. A variety of complex procedures including hip replacement, hip resurfacing, knee replacement, cardiac surgery and spinal surgery are performed. The two hospitals are JCI accredited and associated with the Harvard Business School. The hospitals underwent a stringent and extensive quality assessment process by Companion Global Healthcare before it was recognised for global patient access, Vishal Bali, chief executive officer, Wockhardt said.

The recognition takes Indian medical tourism to the next level of globalisation. India is much sought after for medical care by the Western world primarily because of cost advantage, clinical acumen and medical infrastructure. There are around 100 JCI approved hospitals, globally and 13 are in India.

"Our association with Companion Global Healthcare creates an excellent opportunity for international patients to have access to high quality healthcare services at an affordable cost in India. Over the last 18 years, through our network of 15 hospitals, we have built and evolved speciality healthcare delivery system in the country which matches global benchmarks in patient care," informed Bali.

Companion Global Healthcare helps insured employers and individuals to access affordable healthcare services through its credentials. A self insured company can save immensely even if one of its employees elects to have a surgery at a full credentialed Companion Global Hospital. The addition of Global Hospitals to our network gives our clients more outstanding options if they are considering abroad for care.

The Deloitte study on medical tourism estimates that 750,000 Americans travelled abroad for healthcare in 2007 which is expected to increase to 6 million by 2010. India received 450,000 medical tourists in 2007. The study estimated the global market for medical tourism to be pegged at $60 billion and registering a growth of 30-35 per cent.