Introduction
Medical tourism is when consumers elect to travel across international borders with the intention of receiving some form of medical treatment.
This treatment may span the full range of medical services, but most commonly includes dental care, cosmetic surgery, elective surgery, and fertility treatment.
Also called:
- Medical travel
- Health tourism
- Global healthcare
Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry.
Overseas surgery - safe and viable option healthcare in the United States and Canada.
Reasons for Medical Travel:
- Long waiting lists for surgery in countries offering socialized healthcare
- Ease and affordability of international travel
- Favorable currency exchange rates in foreign countries resulting in low cost surgery
- Rapidly improving technology and standards of care in many countries
- Proven safety of healthcare in select foreign nations
- U.S., U.K. and Australian board certified surgeons operating in select foreign countries
- Potential for cost savings on medical procedures
- Excellent tourism infrastructure
- History of healthcare innovation and achievement
- Successful adoption of best practices and state-of-the-art medical technology
- Availability of internationally-trained, experienced medical staff
Advantage of Medical Tourism
- Lower cost of treatment
- Travelers may incorporate a short holiday with treatment
- Medical tourists can avail better doctors and hospital facilities
- Medical tourism gives people a chance to incorporate local therapies:
- India’s Yoga & Ayurvedic medicine
- Thai massage
- Traditional Chinese medicine & Acupuncture
- The Dead Sea bordering Jordan, Israel & Palestine
Ethical and Legal Implications and Risks
- Infectious Diseases contracted abroad
- Risks of Specific Treatments
- Multiple Jurisdictions and Terms
- Informed Consent
- TORT Law
- Increase in In-equality
Most preferred Medical Tourism destinations (Advanced Technologies)
- USA – One of the places having the highest levels of medical skills and leading edge technology in the world.
- South America – Countries like Brazil, Argentina are leading countries in plastic surgery.
- Singapore, Hong Kong – Highly accredited hospitals with very high quality infrastructure.
- India – Especially for heart surgery, cosmetic surgeries and other high end surgeries. Also for traditional medicines.
- Turkey – Has more American accredited hospitals than any other nation.
Ayurvedic treatment centres
Ayurvedic treatment is to tackle the root cause of ailments, rather than simply relieving symptoms associated with the illness.
With western civilization beginning to understand the importance and benefits of Ayurveda, there is a rush of medical tourists on their way to hot-spots in India, undergoing extensive treatment along with a relaxing and extended vacation.
The actual process of taking an Ayurvedic treatment course is very simple. After a simple diagnosis, you are given a duration for the course. The course consists of taking medicine prepared from herbs and powders – Fully natural
The most important advantage that Ayurvedic prescriptions have over conventional medicine is that there are absolutely no side effects and merely corrects imbalances within your body, such as blood sugar levels, improving circulation and cleansing the skin
Yoga and meditation
Yoga is a complete knowledge of life that originated in India before thousands of years, even before the western world started any forms of physical and mental exercises.
Meditation is synonymous with India and spirituality. Meditation is the foundation of Yoga, which involves exercises of the body and the mind in sync with each other.
Meditation is designed to carry us beyond our illusions and help us see and experience things in its true and natural form.
Statistics
- India : Growing Sector, growth rate at 30%
- Israel : 15,000 medical tourists, $40 million Revenue
- Iran : 30,000 medical tourists each year
- Jordan : 2,50,000 medical tourists, $1 billion
- Costa Rica : 48,000 medical tourists each year
- Cuba : 20,000 medical tourists in 2009
- USA : 85,000 tourists each year
- Turkey : 2,00,000 patients each year
- Malaysia : 1 million patients around the globe
Conclusion
Medical Tourism is a Growing Market
Word-wide, growing at a rate of 15-25%, with rates highest in North, Southeast and South Asia
One last piece of advise: Never choose your surgeon based solely on price. You must understand all aspects of medical travel to find the very best value...not the lowest price.
