Heart bypass surgery in India

Treatment: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)
Provider: Wockhardt Hospitals, Goa
Date: Sep 2011

It was one of the most critical decisions George Marshall had to take in his life. The 73-year-old violin repairer from Bradford, UK, was suffering from severe angina (chest pain) and was told by his local doctor that he had the choice of waiting for six months for a heart bypass operation through the National Health Service (NHS) or pay £19,000 for the same operation at a private hospital in Britain.

He then took the bold decision to fly 5,000 miles to Bangalore’s renowned Wockhardt Hospitals for his surgery where surgeons took a piece of vein from his arm to repair the thinning arteries of his heart.

A hale and hearty Marshall was discharged from Wockhardt Hospitals after a successful double bypass surgery performed by Dr Vivek Jawali, the Hospital’s Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon.

Marshall told the UK newspaper, the Guardian. “I would have no problem coming again.” It cost him only £4,800, and that included the cost of his flight from UK to India and back.

Read the Guardian story.

Recently Dr Vivek Jawali, Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon, along with his team at Wockhardt Heart Institute have set a global benchmark by performing the first coronary bypass surgery along with an aortic valve replacement without using general anesthesia or ventilator support.

The technique of high thoracic epidural analgesia is a highly precision based methodology which involves injection of micro doses of local anaesthetic in the epidural space around the spinal cord which anaesthetises only the chest region while the rest of the system is fully awake.  This technique is a boon for patients whose lung condition does not permit the use of a ventilator and those having a was high risk for general anaesthesia.

Mr. George Marshall said:

"Everyone's been really great here. I have been in the NHS and gone private in Britain in the past, but I can say that the care and facilities in India are easily comparable," says Mr Marshall, sitting in hospital-blue pyjamas. "I'd have no problem coming again. I think it was absolutely terrific and I would have no hesitation in recommending any of my friends to come here. In one sentence my experience of India and Wockhardt hospital has been unbelievable. I really can’t commend the hospital enough. I feel so fit now than what I was feeling”.