Translators aid medical tourism

NOIDA: If words are the physicians of the diseased mind, the words spoken by these physicians are helping heal not only the mind but also the body. With an increasing numbers of patients coming to Noida - a fast emerging hotspot for medical tourism - hospitals in the city have hired translators to make these patients feel comfortable during their treatment while at the same time helping in the facilitation of their treatment. 

Doctors said a bulk of their international patients are coming from Balkan and African countries in search of quality and affordable treatment for a variety of diseases. "The problem is there is a genuine difficulty in communication which can prove to be a hindrance in case of diagnosing these patients. However, we have employed translators with fluency in a variety of languages to solve the problem. It not only makes the patient feel at home but also helps the doctor," said the Fortis Noida spokesperson.Recently,Kailash Hospital in Noida successfully treated 11-year-old Shohona Ezhnazarova fromTajikistan. 

Doctors said the miraculous surgery cured the girl from a rare heart condition that had restricted her movements and growth. All this wouldn't have been possible without the help of doctors proficient in Russian. "Language can become an unfortunate barrier in case of such international patients. In the case of Shohona, we were lucky to have Dr Tauseef Akhtar who is fluent in Russian and had helped us in communicating with the patient and her family. He also helped us in translating her previous medical history for a better understanding," said the spokesperson of Kailash Hospital.Students studying different languages are increasingly turning to medical tourism as an avenue to utilize their skills. "I am presently studying Russian and also plan to study Croatian and Bulagarian languages. With the increasing price tags of medical surgeries in the West, patients are turning to India for treatment," said Shreyas Tyagi, a student of the Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies.