Updated: Sat Nov. 21 2009 6:19:56 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

While many Canadians take pride in their health care system, some find that in order to get the treatment they must take their business elsewhere.

Medical tourism is the practice of traveling abroad to get operations not covered by provincial health care plans, or those too expensive to get in the U.S.

It has proved to be a very successful business for doctors in other countries, most notably India.

Danielle Mills-Mammoliti is just one of an estimated 600,000 Canadians who go abroad annually to get hip replacements, knee replacements and other procedures that they just can't get done here at home.

She recently returned from India where she had a spinal surgery deemed "too risky" by Canadian doctors.

"I feel a lot better," she said. "Much, much better than I have in a long time."

The drawback to medical tourism is that procedures done abroad are not covered by many health care plans, including OHIP. If anything goes wrong, it's up to the patient to deal with the doctors and hospitals where they had the procedure done.

Though many Canadians simply cross the border to get their procedure in the U.S., India is aggressively promoting their own healthcare services to Canadians as a viable option.

A hip replacement surgery and accommodations in India will cost you $14,000. The same set-up in the U.S. could come to as much as 40-thouands dollars.

There are even options for Canadians to research medical touring on their own, including conferences and Websites, most notably Surgical Tourism.

With a report by CTV Toronto's Karlene Nation