By Shweta Srinivasan
New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS) When Dick Gadella, a Kenya-based Dutchman suffering from cancer, landed in India, he had little hope that doctors here could save his life. Today he feels he has woken up from a nightmare.

Gadella suffered from extensive multiple organ cancer and doctors in Holland had told him he had just a few months to live. On a referral from a doctor, he came to India, where a combination of chemotherapy and non-invasive surgery was used to treat him at a Bangalore hospital, HealthCare Global.

“The result is more than great! My family is still not able to believe how my condition improved and it feels like we all are waking up from a very bad dream,” Gadella said.

The case illustrates why India is becoming a preferred destination for medical tourism, in addition to the relatively low cost of treatment in this country, said Gadella’s doctor B.S. Ajaikumar, an oncologist, at South Asia’s largest cancer care hospital, HealthCare Global, Bangalore.

A Confederation of Indian Industry-McKinsey report projects that the number of people coming to the country for medical treatment is increasing by 25 percent every year. Earnings through medical tourism in India are likely to go up to $2 billion by 2012, the report says.

Ajaikumar, who also chairs HealthCare Global (www.hcgoncology.com), took on Gadella’s case as a challenge.

“In Gadella’s case, the cancer started in the stomach and was in an advanced stage reaching his lungs and other organs. His tests revealed that we could treat him with a good chance of saving him. We did chemotherapy and for the lesion in his lung we used the non-invasive robotic cyberknife technology,” the doctor explained to IANS.

After three courses of treatment over eight weeks, 62-year-old Gadella’s scan showed no sign of cancer.

Gadella said he had nearly lost hope when he was diagnosed. He first went to one of the biggest cancer hospitals in Holland. After radiation treatment, the doctors there told him to “go back and enjoy the last 3-6 months of your life”.

“It was satisfying to put our expertise to test especially when doctors from developed countries had given the patient a few months’ survival chance. This case study gives us the confidence that we can handle more complicated cases from around the world and make our vision of ‘living with cancer’ a reality,” Ajaikumar said.

(Shweta Srinivasan can be contacted at shweta.s@ians.in)