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The dentist, the tourist and the hotelier
Bibi Baskin
 I
want to tell you a story. It's about a dentist, a tourist and a hotelier. It's
about medical tourism in India. Here's a supposed case history: Western tourist
arrives in a small hotel in Kerala. First trip to India. She's heard about ayurveda,
houseboat cruises and hill stations. She wants all three. And then she remembers
that Indian doctors and dentists have a good reputation so she may pay a brief
visit to a dentist. 'There's a tiny chip missing from a tooth,' she says. 'But
the dental work shouldn't take more than an hour so it won't spoil my holiday.'
Next morning, she makes it to the dentist for the one-tooth-repair job but heigh
ho! The dentist recommends four crowns, two fillings, tooth whitening and maybe
even an implant or two. So her mouth is jabbed, filed and pruned like a summer
rose over the entire holiday and she's rarely seen or heard of in the hotel.
Of course she cancels all massages, the hard-to-find houseboat cruise is also
a goner and Munnar is a distant dream never to be realised. She only has time
for the dentist.
The inconvenience to the ayurvedic manager, the houseboat owner, the Munnar
hotelier, not to mention the front desk personnel in her hotel, does not register
with her. Why should they? She's on holiday. It is our duty to accommodate her.
But another significant change has happened: the hotelier can never hope to
meet the original expectation of her holiday - rest and relaxation, sight-seeing
and shopping. Instead she gets excellent healthcare but she's not exactly had
a ball.
As Dr Wilfred De Souza, minister of tourism in Goa, pointed out there is a need
for greater synergy between doctors and tour operators. I would add to that
list dentists and hoteliers. And I would recommend open communication, shared
planning and a little give-and-take regarding the overall well-being of the
tourist on holiday. After all that's what holidays used to be about.
The author is a former journalist from Ireland and the owner of Raheem Residency,
a Heritage Hotel at Alleppey Beach, Kerala. She can be contacted at baskin@raheemresidency.com
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