According to the Sidney, Australia Daily Telegraph, desperate patients are looking to Thailand and other Asian nations for hip and knee replacement surgery. The cost of knee surgery in Thailand is around $10, 000 compared to up to $40, 000 in Australia. Airfares add a couple thousand to the total.
Australians Going to Thailand for Joint Surgery
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According to Bureau of Health Information and Victoria Health Services Performance data, the median wait time for hip surgery in New South Wales (NSW) was 174 days in the spring of 2014 and 302 days for knee surgery. The wait time in Victoria, at the same time period, was slightly less—118 for hips and 167 for knees.
The writer quoted health spokesman Walt Secord as saying that it was no surprise that patients were looking to queue-jump, since the number of patients waiting for a hip replacement in New South Wales (NSW) has risen by 20% to 2, 345 in a year. At the same time, there has been a 7% increase in patients waiting for a knee replacement, with 5, 136 on the list, he said.
A Sydney-based agency called Medi Makeovers organizes Thailand based surgeries. The agency director, Daniela Pratico, is calling on the state government to help facilitate patients who want to fast-track their surgeries by having them done in Thailand.
She claims that this would help shorten elective surgery waiting lists in Australia while giving patients a less expensive option. Overcoming a stigma that hospitals in Thailand offer a substandard service was the biggest hurdle she faced in convincing prospective patients to consider surgery overseas. She maintains that the care is of equal standard to that offered in Australia and that patients are able to continue communicating with their doctor once they are back home.
The situation has aroused political passions. NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner noted that more elective surgery was being undertaken under the Coalition government than had been under Labor. She claimed that the Coalition government has cleared the backlog left by the previous government and that in 2013-14, there were 647 more knee replacements and 235 more hip replacements performed than had been under Labor in 2009-10.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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