Wockhardt Raises the Bar for Surprise and Delight for the Medical Tourism Patient and Family

I have enjoyed the personal satisfaction of watching hundreds of patients leave the United States in physical pain and financial worry, and returning from our partner hospitals in India having benefited from an extraordinary medical and personal experience . As a former hospital CEO, I have marveled at how quickly the Indian healthcare system has evolved...and wondered if the US system could ever provide the same value if we could magically remove third party payers, and the other unique burdens of capitalism.

Beyond the new facilities, 128 slice CT scanners and the latest healthcare technologies, I am continually surprised by how the very simple act of listening to patients can provide unexpectedly positive returns.

The husband of one of our patients took the occasion of her cervical disc replacement visit to Bangalore to join his wife for the trip of a life time. While at the Wockhardt hospital, the staff learned that they were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Unbeknownst to the patient and her husband, the hospital team took the occasion of a previously arranged tour of the city to treat them to a surprise wedding anniversary dinner at a local restaurant...complete with music and chocolate cake.

On the surface, this seems like yet another example of one of India's premier super specialty hospitals moving the customer experience up yet another notch. But we also find that there is an important surgical recovery benefit to these surprise outings.

The Indian surgeon has a much different post-surgical goal than his US counterpart. In the US, the patient only needs to be ready for discharge from the hospital...in India, the patient must be ready for the journey back home. So Indian post-surgical physical therapy is immediate and continuous right from the surgery. Because patients are up and walking so quickly, they sometimes over estimate their abilities to transition back to normal physical activities. Sometimes a visit to the market, or a surprise wedding anniversary dinner, is all that is needed to reset the patient expectations for activities to be more in line with their physician's recommendations.

The end result of these efforts is an extraordinary healthcare experience that simply cannot be duplicated in the US.