It was no small achievement when Prof Subash Gupta, chief liver transplant surgeon at Apollo Hospitals Delhi, announced earlier this year that the hospital had treated 500 liver transplant patients from a single foreign country -- Pakistan.

Their 500th patient was the two-year-old, Nalain Aziz, who belonged to Lahore and had developed jaundice on the seventh day after his birth. Despite repetitive treatments, the jaundice worsened and bleeding started from the swollen veins in his food pipe. He was ultimately referred for a liver transplant and the family opted to take him to India.

The number cited here is about the Pakistani patients treated at the hospitals run by one chain. There are others, such as Medanta, Max and Sir Ganga Ram, and BKT hospitals which have treated patients from Pakistan. These patients are going there for liver and kidney transplants, oncology-related treatments, cardiac surgeries, and so on.

Once people would come from India, especially the Indian Punjab, for treatment at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH), Lahore, but this patient inflow is no more there at the moment.

One reason why India is a preferred destination for Pakistani patients is that it is close to travel and there are similarities in the genetic traits of people of the two countries. Besides, medical tourism is a highly developed sector in India which earns a lot of foreign exchange by providing medical services to foreigners and enjoys prestige and goodwill all over the world.

The systems are in place and the patients and their families do not have to go through a big hassle. Those who can afford to get a liver transplant prefer to go to India for this purpose as they do not have to wait for long and the amount spent is almost the same as in Pakistan.

Dr Vasudevan, senior liver transplant surgeon at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, says "Pakistanis form almost 50 per cent of the foreign patients treated at the hospital. The reason, he says, is that it takes patients hardly 30 minutes to reach Delhi from Lahore by air and the quality of medical services they get is extraordinary."

Even those coming via train or bus do not find it difficult to travel there. "As the sector mainly targets the Indian diaspora, especially the Non Resident Indians (NRIs) in USA who are not covered under health insurance, it has adopted high standards of medical services prevalent in developed countries," he adds. The specialties of Indian surgeons also include heart transplant, kidney transplant and bone marrow transplant.

Dr Vasudevan, who visits Lahore after every quarter and holds a free OPD for liver patients, says it is not true that patients are referred for liver transplant in India even if there are not treatable. "We only refer those patients are who are curable."He praises both the governments for facilitating travel of patients and doctors across the border, despite having several unresolved issues between them. "A medical visa is granted within 24 hours," he informs.

"The role of Indian surgeons and their teams is worth appreciation as they are training Pakistani doctors and paramedics," says Dr Tariq Bangash, incharge of the Centre for Liver Disease and Liver Transplant, Shaikh Zayed Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore.

There is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which Pakistani medical officers and paramedics are trained by Indian transplant surgeons when they come here as well as when they are sent to India for training.