Selena Gomez may be the nudge needed for access to Kidney Transplant globally

Following Selena Gomez's kidney transplant, what we can learn from Global facts about Kidney diseases

The recent public expression of Selena Gomez's kidney disease journey brings to light not a celebrity plight but an underlying reflection of chronic diseases globally. The world has seen the life expectancy increase from 65 in 1990 to 72 years in 2013 (Global health Index), as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases have fallen. But at the same time, there has been a global burden of chronic diseases such as heart and kidney failures, accounting for more than 32% of all deaths. 

'Mortality due to chronic kidney disease rose between 2005 and 2015 by 32% to 1·2 million deaths worldwide', says Donal O'Donoghue, President of the Renal Association. This degree of movement ranked the chronic kidney disease as second only to HIV and AIDs, highlighting how critical the global situation is. Despite the growing burden of chronic diseases, the global health economics indicates a massive disparity between the supply of needed healthcare providers and the demand of patients. 

While over 2 million patients receive treatment every year, it represents only 10% of the global demand. Of these numbers, a majority are treated in five developed countries of US, Japan, Germany, Brazil and Italy, with universal access to healthcare, but represent only 12% of the global kidney disease footprint. This aggregate demand is most pressing in middle and low-income countries, with restricted health care access, creating a substantial financial burden on people who need it. In another 112 countries worldwide, most people are unable to access any form of treatment. Thus, resulting in the death of over a million people annually from untreated kidney failure.

Realising the need for urgent action against this life-limiting disease, an upsurge of making healthcare available to all and empowering patients globally to overcome the constraints of location, time and budget is needed. Medical travel is our best solution to chronic problem statements like kidney disease. In today's globalised world, it will help us bridge the gap between the patients and healthcare providers. Countries like India, China, Thailand and Singapore are the one-stop destination for patients with restricted access due to infrastructure and budget constraints in their country.

India is a key medical travel destination in India owing to the quality of its healthcare provision with the cost-effective proposal:

Quality of Treatment: India has earned a reputation for its excellence in nephrology and urology advances over the years. Thousands of comprehensive kidney or renal transplants are performed in India every year.

Top Hospitals: The leading hospitals have NABH and JCI accreditation in India and specialise in conducting kidney transplant. The transplant is performed only by skilled surgeons. The quality of service and treatment provided at these clinics is as good as UK and US.

Cost Benefit: Kidney transplant in India costs about one-tenth of what it costs in the United States at a hospital with similar quality of service and medical treatment. The laparoscopic kidney transplant cost in India is around $14,500 in India versus  $3,00,000 in the US. Kidney transplant cost in India associated with open nephrectomy is approximately $12,500 in India. The price is less than 5 percent of what the same procedure costs in the US ($4,50,000).

India is the leading medical tourism destination in terms of volume as it is one of the highest quality and lowest cost medical tourism destinations according to the 2015 Medical Tourism Market Report.