Howard Staab and Maggi are on their first visit to India and will leave Delhi for Jaipur and Agra tomorrow like most other American tourists. Unlike other tourists, however, the couple had not planned to travel within India when they left the US three weeks ago. The reason: Staab, a 53-year-old contractor, was visiting India for a heart valve replacement surgery.

“Howard always had a healthy heart. A couple of months ago,his doctor did not like the sound of his heart and him to undergo an echocardiogram,” says Maggi. Howard was diagnosed with a flailing mitral valve with severe mitral regurgitation. Often, people with mitral valve prolapse can take medication for years. Howard, however, needed immediate surgery to either repair or replace the mitral valve.

There was one problem: Howard had no health insurance. In the US, the cost of surgery is a staggering $100-150,000, if there were no complications. After diagnosis, Howard’s applications to obtain health insurance turned up astronomical premiums for policies that also disallow any claims related to his heart for a year or longer, since it was now a pre-existing condition.

So the couple looked for  hospitals in India and Argentina, where surgery could be done at one-tenth the cost. The two chose Escorts Heart Institute and arrived in India for surgery on 28 September, where Dr Naresh Trehan replaced the mitral valve through the ribs without cutting open the ribcage. Three weeks later, Howard is all set to travel.

“This is an indication of things to come, when many people will come to India from the US for cutting-edge surgery and quality healthcare at a fraction of the cost,” says Dr Trehan.