July 31, 2010

Why India?

Because India Cares

When we established MED INDIA five years ago, our foremost concern was the requirement that our overseas hospital partners consistently provide safe, excellent, high-quality care, and that our patients receive the best possible medical treatment anywhere in the hemisphere.

Toward this end, we've personally researched hundreds of medical treatment destinations throughout the world. What we found shocked and amazed us.

Prostitution, child sex trades, and underage sex runs rampant in most of the countries that many of these other medical vacation companies send people to. In some cases the governments of these countries turn a blind eye; in others, the governments support and receive large revenues from it.

This is a heartbreaking reality.

Fox News stated in August 2006 that 80% of all male tourists going to Thailand go for underage sex. Thailand boasts two million prostitutes, most of them underage.

THAILAND

"In countries such as Thailand, child sexual exploitation builds on a long-standing and vast prostitution industry, and thrives where law enforcement is weak or corrupt."

-CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING THRIVES IN THAILAND, FOX NEWS.com, August 16, 2006

And this is not just happening in Thailand. It's happening in all the other countries where "profits over people" Medical Vacation companies are sending travelers to.

CAMBODIA

"Poverty-stricken Cambodia in recent years has become new frontier for pedophiles…there are about 33,000 child sex workers… The U.S. State Department has listed Cambodia as among the world's worst nations at adequately addressing human trafficking problems, including the trade of child sex workers."

-CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING THRIVES IN THAILAND, FOX NEWS.com, August 16, 2006

VIETNAM

Vietnam does not have the reputation of Cambodia as a haven for sex tourism, but recent surveys by the government and the U.N. Children's Fund indicate that child prostitution, including child sex tourism, is on the rise.."

-CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING THRIVES IN THAILAND, FOX NEWS.com, August 16, 2006

At first glance, you may think this has nothing to do with your medical trip.

But after visiting some of these countries and interviewing a number of medical travelers who've been to these and other Med Vacation countries, what we found disturbed us deeply.

In the hotels where we stayed and in the restaurants where we ate we were propositioned at every turn by criminals offering children for sex. We were told that even outside the hospitals and medical clinics where medical travelers were undergoing surgery, they were exposed to prostitutes and criminals.

Many say they felt insecure, knowing they were in a dangerous place. A criminal element was often visible on the street, and the police were either powerless to stop it or, in some cases, complicit with these crimes against humanity.

How can these Med Vacation companies knowingly send people into these hostile and corrupt regions?-Profits, that's how.

Would you want to visit these places? Countries to avoid if you don't want to run into this type of thing are: Costa Rica, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, Chili, Argentina, Colombia, Equador, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Cuba.

MEXICO

"MEXICO CITY, Sep 13 (IPS) - The complicity in Mexico between child sex rings and the political and business elites "goes beyond what we can even imagine," says activist Lydia Cacho, who faces death threats and was even thrown briefly into prison for revealing those ties in a book."

-TIES BETWEEN ELITES AND CHILD SEX RINGS, BY DIEGO CEVALLOS

CHILE

"Chile is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Most victims of sex trafficking are Chilean women and girls who are trafficked within the country….Foreign victims are brought to Chile for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor from Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, and China. Chinese nationals transit Chile en route to Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

-U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT TRAFFICKING PERSONS REPORT, JUNE 2007

ARGENTINA

Children in Argentina are involved in prostitution and sex tourism, and there are isolated reports of their involvement in pornography and drug trafficking. Children are trafficked to Argentina from Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay for sexual exploitation and labor. Argentine children are trafficked from rural to urban areas of the country and there is some trafficking of children abroad, mainly into prostitution in Brazil and Paraguay…"

-U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS

COLUMBIA

Cartagena's history as a Spanish bastion against English invasion, its cobblestone streets, quaint plazas, colonial churches, art museums and seafood restaurants attract many visitors. Yet behind the thick, ancient walls lurks a darker attraction: the sexual exploitation of minors by foreigners. The city has become a magnet for men, many of them Europeans, seeking sex with young girls and sometimes boys.

- A DARK FACET OF COLUMBIA'S COLONIAL JEWEL, THE WASHINGTON POST, DECEMBER 5, 2004 While researching hospitals in these countries, we were shocked and appalled at every turn.

That shock soon turned to outrage and after visiting India and seeing the night/day difference, that outrage has now turned into resolve-our resolve to take you to the best and most ethical place in the world to give you the comfort, peace, and security you deserve.

This is one of the main reasons why we have played it safe and we just work with the doctors and Hospitals in New Delhi, India.

The high moral ethic-there is no sexual exploitation of children anywhere in India, and apparently India is the only country where sex trafficking does not exist-goes back thousands of years, and is no doubt rooted in India's highly spiritual and very ancient Hindu wisdom tradition.

Even more importantly, the hospitals and medical centers in India were consistently proven to be head-and-shoulders above the rest at offering a significant advantage in terms of high quality treatment, competence of surgeons, and advanced care.

And this is really why we chose India as our destination of choice:

There are now well over 40,000 doctors of Indian origin practicing in America, which means most Americans are well aware of their excellent reputations and skills.
The great majority of doctors and surgeons at our partner hospitals have been trained here in the US or in the UK, so they are attuned to the needs, sensitivities, and expectations of American patients.
The Indian government has recognized the economic growth opportunity medical tourism is providing for its people, and has invested heavily in domestic hospitals, medical equipment, and doctors.
English is fast becoming a second language in India. All paperwork is predominantly in English, so there is no language barrier difficulty.
India is a strong political ally of the US. With its flourishing democracy, India has become closely aligned with American interests from a geopolitical perspective.
International airlines are providing a growing number of convenient, inexpensive, non-stop or one-stop flights to India.
India has been a strong and growing economic partner of the US. American firms are continuing to make significant investments in India, courting market opportunities created by the fast-growing middle-class.
Americans are treated with far greater respect, admiration, and dignity in India than in most other parts of the world.

India's advantages over every other country that hosts and receives medical travelers are staggering. For this reason, and after our own stringent review process, we decided to partner with India exclusively.