Released on: June 23, 2008, 4:33 am

Press Release Author: Mumtaz Pachisa

Industry: Healthcare

Press Release Summary: Healthbase has helped a Mexican patient get hip resurfacing
surgery in India. The unavailability of Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery drives
not only scores of Americans and Canadians but also Mexicans and many others
overseas to India and to other medical tourism destinations.

Press Release Body: Healthbase has helped a Mexican patient get hip resurfacing
surgery in India. The unavailability of Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery drives
not only scores of Americans and Canadians but also Mexicans and many others
overseas to India and to other medical tourism destinations.

Healthbase, a Boston-based medical travel facilitator that connects Americans and
Canadians to affordable and easily accessible health care services is also helping
Mexicans get affordable and timely surgeries overseas. 53-year old Miguel de la Peña
is one such patient from Mexico who had his Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery (BHR)
in India, facilitated by Healthbase.

Mexico is a hot medical tourism destination itself for a variety of health care and
dental care services. However, there are a few other departments, specifically hip
resurfacing, where it is still catching up.

\"Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery is a relatively new procedure in Mexico and so
is not easily available in the country,\" says Saroja Mohanasundaram, CEO of
Healthbase.

Even in the United States, the hip resurfacing procedure, which is a more
bone-conserving procedure than total hip replacement, was approved by the FDA only
in May 2006.

According to Saroja, \"Most of our customers from the US, Canada and Mexico seeking
Birmingham hip resurfacing prefer to go to countries in Asia and Europe like India,
Thailand, Belgium and so on because the surgeons at our partner hospitals in those
countries are much more experienced than their American, Canadian or Mexican
counterparts.\"

Hip resurfacing, which is recommended for the younger active patients, is a
technology that replaces the worn surfaces of the hip joint with caps of high
carbide cobalt chrome. It differs from the conventional hip replacement in that it
removes only the unhealthy bone and preserves the normal hip bone whereas the
conventional total hip replacement procedure (THR) sacrifices a large quantity of
normal bone.

For Miguel de la Peña, it meant being able to walk again.

Attesting to the top quality of care he received in India, Miguel says, \"My surgery
went very smoothly. Dr. Vijay Bose is a fantastically nice person, very
knowledgeable and experienced. All the personnel at the Apollo Specialty hospital in
Chennai - beginning with housekeeping and going through nurses, waiters,
administrative personnel, doctors, healthcare technicians, etc. - were surprisingly
professional, kind and lovely people.\"

Experience comes with practice. BHR being a relatively new procedure in North
America, there are not many orthopedic surgeons there who are well-experienced in
this surgery. In contrast - \"Many surgeons on our provider network, for example,
have performed more than a thousand such surgeries each,\" says Saroja.

Thanking Healthbase for all their efforts, Miguel adds, \"I want to give a very
special recognition and sincere thanks to Healthbase, since without all their
efforts, hard work, attention, patience and kindness I would probably have not
decided to have my surgery done in India. Thanks for removing all my concerns and
leading me throughout the whole process.\"

The top quality of care along with the substantial price differential is drawing
thousands to seek care abroad for orthopedic, cardiac, bariatric, dental,
laparoscopic, cosmetic and other procedures through Healthbase.


About Healthbase Online Inc:
Healthbase, an award-winning Boston-based medical tourism and dental tourism
facilitator, is a one-stop source for global medical and dental choices, connecting
patients to leading hospitals around the world, through a secure, easy to use and
information-rich award-winning web portal. Healthbase offers over 200 medical,
dental, cosmetic and surgical procedures and helps patients seek top quality
healthcare in various categories such as orthopedic, spinal, cardiac, bariatric,
dental, laparoscopic, cosmetic, etc. Healthbase's partner healthcare facilities are
located in India, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, Belgium, Hungary, Costa
Rica, Panama and Mexico, and are expanding to the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia,
Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador and Guatemala. To ensure that patients receive the
best care possible, Healthbase works mainly with hospitals that have international
accreditations like JCI, JCAHO and ISO. Healthbase caters to the needs of individual
consumers, self-insured businesses, insurance carriers and third party
administrators seeking affordable medical travel and dental travel options. To learn
more, call 1-888-691-4584, email info.hb@healthbase.com or visit
http://www.healthbase.com.

Web Site: http://www.healthbase.com

Contact Details: Contact:
Mumtaz Pachisa
Healthbase Media Relations
Healthbase
Healthcare Beyond BoundariesT
287 Auburn Street
Newton, MA 02466, USA
Phone: 1-888-MY1-HLTH
Phone: 1-888-691-4584 (Toll Free)
Phone: 1-617-418-3436 (International)
Fax: 1-800-986-9230
Email: media.hb@healthbase.com
Website: http://www.healthbase.com