India leads Asia in medical tourism

The first time I heard the name "Pendicton", I thought it was a seasonal skin rash. A brief research introduced me to a flourishing area of British Columbia. Pendicton is a working class town in the Okanagan Valley and is now one of the most talked about regions in the country as a stellar wine region.

Historically, some of the best winemakers in the world (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Germany) settled in Pendicton and are now producing award winning vintages.

The town I am visiting soon is straddled by lakes at either end, Okanagan Lake to the north, and Shaka Lake to the South. The location indicates breathtaking beaches during the summer season, rolling hills and country roads for leaf peeping in autumn. The climate is just right for grape-growing and agri-tourism.

There are five leading wineries that are open for the public for tours, tasting and dining from May to October. The most popular winery is the Hillside Estate Winery and Barrel Room Bistro, owned by immigrants from Czechoslovakia.

A brand new band called Sekoya is currently making musical waves. The group features a Filipino sax musician/composer/ arranger and a Fil-Can lady vocalist. Sekoya won the Canadian Indie Music Award then nominated for a Juno Music Award (Canada’s answer to the Grammy).

Sekoya’s sound is truly different and highly original. It is something like a global lounge sound blended with a bit of funk, soul and pop. For a change, the Filipino-inspired compositions did not sound copied nor imitated from the likes of Kenny G. The Asian Heritage Month Society presented the innovative group in their ExplorAsian program. The musical group’s style of music was described as a complex compositional form that is jazz influenced broken beats with sophisticated electronic sound manipulation and ground breaking vocal styling of a lady named Amalia.

The Asian Pacific Post reported that some impatient Canadians who are frustrated with the increasing times for surgery are finding surgical alternatives in Asia which is cashing on the growing medical tourism industry.

Medical tourism is getting more popular and accepted, especially in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and India. A survey indicated that Canadians waited an average of 8.4 weeks from their general practitioners’ referral to an appointment with a specialist in 12 different medical specialties then waited another 9.5 weeks for their treatment.

India is considered the leading country in health-tourism followed by Malaysia. Medical outsourcing is another field where India leads. It is where subcontractors provide services to the overburdened medical care systems in western countries. The reported surgical specialties offered in Asia include dental, eye, orthopedic, corneal transplant, cataract, hip and knee replacement to name a few.

A long, long time ago, retirement was associated with retardation, old age and early death. But that’s a thing of the past. A recent survey conducted in Canada, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, France, India, Japan and Mexico revealed that people firmly believe that they should have the right to work until any age they choose. And half of all those interviewed said raising the retirement age is the best way to solve the global pressures brought by longer life-spans, declining birth rates and the aging baby boomers.

Of the many nationalities surveyed, Canadians were the most concerned about preparing for old age. The average age of retirement in Canada is 62.5 years for men and 60.5 years for women. Thirty-six percent of Canadians, the second highest response behind France also stated that they were seriously concerned about caring for elderly relatives as they themselves aged.

Majority of people world-wide said they hope to retire in their early 60s or late 50s. The Ontario government is planning to revise its current mandatory age of retirement of 65. Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan are the only other provinces that impose a mandatory retirement age.