London, June 29: In a bid to overcome the long waiting lists in Britain's National Health Service (NHS), some patients suffering from heart and lung ailments may be flown to India for surgery quickly and at almost half the cost, a media report said today. NHS chiefs are currently in talks with medical authorities in India to consider the proposals in a desperate bid to cut waiting lists, the 'Sunday Times' said. A department of health spokesman, however, said patients would only be sent to India in exceptional circumstances. Dr Yaswant Mehrotra, managing director of India's Apollo hospital network, told the paper: "We expect negotiations to work out within months. Once this arrangement is in place, patients on British waiting lists can be transferred to Apollo's cardiac, orthopaedic and ophthalmology departments. "The facility will be available not only for non- resident Indians but any patient wishing an early appointment and treatment.

"From our point of view, there is a lot of money in it", he said.

The indian operations would cost around 3,000 pounds - half the price of surgery in Britain - including the cost of the 12,800-km return flight.

More than a million people in the UK are currently on NHS waiting lists. One has to wait up to nine months for a cataract operation and six months for heart surgery here.

Bureau Report