Tom Heine has been residing in Goa since October 2017. Tom Heine has been residing in Goa since October 2017.

A German national, in acute renal pain, was forced to travel first from Goa to Mumbai and then to Bangkok, on Wednesday, after he realised he could not undergo a surgery to remove kidney stone in India until he had a medical visa. Hospitals in Mumbai claimed they cannot treat a foreign national under government guidelines that mandate patients must have a medical visa or be overseas citizens of India (OCI), as approved by local Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO), to undergo medical treatment.

The 49-year-old photographer, Tom Heine, has been residing in Goa since October 2017, with visa valid till June this year. Three weeks ago, he suffered abdominal pain. A CT scan and ultrasound diagnosed kidney stones. “I visited local hospital from Arambol, but realised I may have to visit a specialised hospital. I decided to travel to Singapore for treatment,” he said. On Wednesday, Heine suffered renal pain on flight from Goa to Mumbai. At Mumbai airport, where he was in transit to Singapore, he was forced to cancel his ongoing flight and immediately rushed to Saifee Hospital, at Charni Road, for treatment.

“Initially, I was told I had to visit local FRRO office to convert tourist visa to medical visa. My visa is till June, if I converted it to a medical visa, as per guidelines I would get only 14 days in India. Hospital officials said I did not have an option of converting it back to tourist visa after treatment. I would have to return to Germany to get a tourist visa,” Heine told The Indian Express.

He discussed with his insurance company and decided to again visit the International Airport to book a ticket to Bangkok for surgery. Bangkok provides an option of visa on arrival.

According to Saifee Hospital spokesperson, Heine was brought to the casualty ward “in excruciating pain”. “We told him we could do paper work to convert his visa into a medical one. He required hydration therapy to stabilise, but since he was not willing to convert the visa, we could not do anything to help. We are only following government guidelines,” the spokesperson said. According to hospital administration, an online application is made to FRRO which is accepted within 24 hours. The procedure to convert from tourist to medical can then take three to four days, the hospital spokesperson said.

According to FRRO guidelines: “Hospitals would avoid treatment in the nature of investigations, diagnostic tests, indoor admission of the patients, major operations or interventions of like nature to foreigners without medical visa / OCI card. The foreign patient may at best take OPD consultancy only with a non-medical visa.” Officials from FRRO said that several patients come on tourist visa for medical treatment through agents. A circular was issued to hospitals last year to ensure they did not conduct non-emergency surgical procedure on foreign nationals in absence of a medical visa. Heine argued that to forfeit a tourist visa would force him to return to Germany. “I had left all my luggage in Goa. After my surgery I would have been forced to leave the country,” he said, adding, “I understand people take advantage of certain loopholes in the visa system. I have been coming to India for 14 years. And this is a medical emergency.”

Heine added that he also checked the immigration website to understand the procedure. “There was nothing that could help me.” When contacted, Supriya Anand, DCP of Special Branch II, said, “We could have offered him a medical permit to undergo surgery. His tourist visa would have continued. Our officials reached out to him, but by then he had arranged to travel overseas.” Agents handling cases of medical tourism claim several tourists who require medical assistance are granted medical visa which can be extended based on how a doctor explains the treatment protocol to the FRRO. Several, however, added that extending medical visa for three months is difficult for a kidney stone problem.

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