Medical tourism in India involves people coming from all parts of the world, coming to India for treatment of medical complications and also to have a vacation and to relax. These people travel to India in large numbers to receive various treatments that include heart surgery, cosmetic surgery, dental implants, knee transplants and even infertility treatments. Approvals for these procedures can be tough to obtain from their respective countries' health regulators, so they need to seek them elsewhere. Besides, surgery procedures often have long lines of waiting patients in most Western countries.Besides the low costs, India's infrastructure (only the hospitals) and technology equipment's that is imported from the West can match those of the UK, US and European countries. This also contributed in making India popular as a medical tourism destination in the world. This image is being tarnished by continuing reports on super-bugs in Indian hospitals. The super-bug named NDM-1, which stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase. This gene makes bacteria resistant to antibiotics.About a year or two ago, it was reported that super-bug cases were found in 40 countries, including the USA, UK and some countries in Asia too. With more and more people traveling to India to get more affordable medical care, this new superbug could further spread and become a global concern. This spread could be very quick and nothing had been found to control it. India's medical tourism was hit due to this super-bug. It is said that the sewers, drains and drinking water in India are affected by poor hygiene, so the lives of millions of people are put at risk in the form of infections brought by these drug defying virus.
The penicillin antibiotic was introduced in the 1940's and soon after this, studies have shown that bacteria was able to develop resistance to this antibiotic. This made the scientists to produce more powerful antibiotics. But these have been misused and overused, accelerating the rise of infections, caused by the drug-resistant superbugs. When you travel to India and avail treatment, there is therefore a high chance that you will bring with you NDM-1 virus and today there is no cure for it.The bacteria which produces NDM-1 has a strong resistance to even the most powerful antibiotics and even those that are used for emergency purposes. These super-bugs are mostly found in hospitals and clinics. As this is the case, patients are more prone to be infected with this virus. The NDM-1 bacteria gene makes treatment very difficult. These super-bugs are commonly discovered in the urine, blood and other specimens of patients.While the Indian medical facilities today are doing all the proper steps to prevent the spread of the super-bug, it is foreseen that the NDM-1 will continue to stay and cause danger to patients. This is as long as there are medical tourists visiting India for their medical procedures. Despite the news about the super-bugs, people continue to flock India's hospitals and clinics for treatment and hence this virus continues to spread.
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