India has one of the fastest growing medical tourism industries in the world and the country receives a significant number of patients from the US. But America isn't pleased.
A leading health official in the US administration recently told the Congress that medical tourism in the subcontinent was responsible for bringing infections into the US.
"We have a problem in India," Dr Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, United States, told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing recently, as per PTI. "We have been getting infections, particularly carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria, ACA and others, through people who go there, for example, on medical tourism and then come back to our hospitals. We now have problems with things that have originated elsewhere.”
“So, we feel we have the responsibility to help them over there. Anytime you have a resistant microbe that emerges in another country, inevitably it will come to the United States,” Fauci added.
Fauci was replying to a query posed at the Congressional hearing on Biodefense and Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases.
Over the years, India has transformed itself into an attractive medical tourism hub. India's visa policy is patient-friendly and this is one of the factors contributing to the growth of medical tourism, which is expected to touch $8 billion by 2020. The presence of English-speaking professionals who can provide quality care is an added bonus.
But the primary reason why a foreigner would chose India is affordability. For instance, a treatment that would cost $130,000 in the US can be availed in India for just $10,000.
Although there are no official statistics on the number of Americans going to India for medical purposes, a survey cited by Foreignpolicy.com state that more than 300,000 US nationals go abroad each year for health care. In 2016, India issued more than 1.78 lakh medical visas as against 1.22 lakh in 2015.
Medical tourists to India usually seek heart, liver and bone marrow transplants, joint replacement surgeries, spine and brain surgeries and cancer and kidney treatments.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)