An audit of surgical site infections among Omani travelers to India for spinal surgery

• Published in: Health Policy OPEN 2021-12, Vol.2, p.100049-100049, Article 100049
• Main Authors: Menon, K. Venugopal, Abdelmottaleb, Mansur, Al Ghafri, Khalifa, Kumar, Renjit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Health tourism; Medical tourism; Original; Postoperative complications; Surgical site infection; Travel medicine
• ISSN: 2590-2296; 2590-2296
• DOI: 10.1016/j.hpopen.2021.100049

•SSI seems to be more in medical tourism beneficiaries.•The surgical indications, when validated locally appear to have better outcomes than otherwise.•Registry of all medical tourists be maintained at both ends (country of origin and host country)•Regular audit of each type of intervention should be conducted by experts at both ends.•Accreditation facility for each type of service and list of accredited centers to be prepared by the host country. Many Omani nationals travel to India for Spine surgery. Surgical site infection (SSI) rates in these patients is considered more than normal. The indications for surgery are also deemed liberal. Objective: To determine whether SSI rates are more in medical tourists. Design: The submission is a retrospective observational study done at a tertiary care referral hospital in Oman. The participants were a cohort of 125 patients who had travelled to India for spine surgery between January 2013 and December 2015. Their data was retrieved from the hospital information system. They were evaluated for satisfaction, residual complaints, surgical site infection and putative indications for surgery. The primary outcome measure was surgical site infection. The SSI rates were compared to a group of patients treated in-house during the same period. All the surgeries done were in the private sector. Fifty-four of the 80 cases were advised surgery locally as well, while 26 were advised against intervention. There were 15 cases of SSI, 10 of them needing re-operation. Four patients had neurological deterioration with 2 wrong level surgeries. The rate of SSI in medical tourism patients was 12% compared to the 2.7% native cases. There was a 78% chance of improvement when the surgery was locally approved and 74% chance of worsening when not approved.