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The good news: a hi-tech hospital is ready to take 25,000 patients off waiting lists. The bad news: it's in Greece

Briton who flew to Thessaloniki to get a new knee is pleased to act as guinea-pig for more overseas ops

Robert Mendick,Daniel Howden
Sunday 27 January 2002 01:00 GMT
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If John McCumisky's knee replacement operation proves a success, he could be followed by as many as 25,000 NHS patients to a newly built, luxurious private hospital in northern Greece.

Following the first NHS operations at a hospital in France, British health officials are in talks with the Interbalkan European Medical Centre in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.

Today The Independent on Sunday can reveal details of the treatment given to the hospital's first British patient, and its facilities, which rival the best in the world.

In private rooms, surrounded by the latest medical equipment and décor more in keeping with a five-star hotel, Mr McCumisky is getting a foretaste of the treatment the hospital is keen to offer thousands of patients on the NHS waiting list – for a price.

"If NHS patients come here, they are going to have a big shock," said Mr McCumisky, who paid for his own treatment. "I feel like a king." He spent nine months on a NHS waiting list before giving up and deciding to go private.

He was sent to the 500-bed hospital by Operations Abroad, a Cheshire-based company that represents the Interbalkan in Britain. Paying £6,900 he reckons to have saved £2,000 on comparative private treatment in the UK.

However, any of the 2.5m British tourists who travel to Greece each year and have experienced its chaotic, underfunded public health system will be hard to win over.

A spokesman for British health authorities piloting the NHS scheme to cut thousands of patients off waiting lists by sending them abroad said: "We have had lots of discussions with Operations Abroad. We are not ruling out the possibility we may use Thessaloniki."

The first nine patients went to France last week, launching a pilot study that will also test private hospitals in Germany. Once those tests are evaluated, the Department of Health will consider sending patients to hospitals in Belgium, Spain and Greece.

Unlike NHS hospitals, the Interbalkan, which is owned by the Greek healthcare tycoon George Apostopoulos, has a huge amount of spare capacity. But it is far too expensive for the average Greek patient.

This is why Operations Abroad is keen to promote the hospital in the UK at a time when the government is looking to health providers overseas to help cut waiting lists.

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