Medical tourism is the practice of travelling to different countries to get quality and affordable healthcare services. It is also referred to as global healthcare, health tourism, and medical travel. The term 'medical tourism' was created by the media and travel agencies to popularize this form of practice. Today, medical tourism has grown to become an official industry in more than 50 countries.
Why is Medical Tourism Popular?
So, what exactly are the benefits of medical tourism and why do people travel abroad for simple and complex medical procedures? The main factor that encourages medical travel is undoubtedly the high cost of medical care in developed countries like the United States. Most medical travel destinations offer surgeries at almost one-third the costs of developed countries. This translates into bigger savings for a person who has to undergo a complex medical procedure like a liver transplant or even for a cosmetic surgery procedure.
Another reason is the high costs of medical insurance in western countries which have led to many people not opting for any medical plans health tourism agency in turkey. The high unemployment rates in the U.S and other European countries are another major contributing factor. Today, due to the deteriorating unemployment levels millions of people can no longer afford health insurance. So, a person not covered by health insurance has very less options other than seeking cheaper treatment elsewhere. As a result, medical travel has gained rapid acceptance and popularity in a short period of time.
Pros and Cons of Medical Tourism
Medical travel abroad isn't just popular because of the cost savings. There are many other benefits too. For example, the waiting times for medical procedures in the U.K are long and cumbersome. On the other hand, in medical tourism, a patient's entire procedure is planned and scheduled well in advance. Once the patient arrives in the host country, there is little to no waiting time. Here is another example to illustrate this point. In Canada, during the year 2005, more than 750,000 Canadians had to wait for an average of 9.5 weeks to get their medical procedures done. Canada also sets long waiting benchmarks ranging from 16 to 26 weeks for non-emergency medical procedures like cataract and hip replacement surgery.
While the medical travel industry has its benefits it also has its share of drawbacks and concerns. For example, a medical tourist can easily be susceptible to many diseases in the host country, where high standards of hygiene may not be available. A person from the United States may have low to no natural immunity levels to these diseases. These diseases could hamper or complicate existing health conditions. Some of the diseases that could weaken or complicate the recovery of the person are amoebic dysentery, influenza, typhoid, and tuberculosis. Health complications could also arise during travel due to cramped seats in airlines and long distance flights.
Even accredited hospitals in countries like India lack adequate complaint registering policies. This leads to a lot of patients being totally dissatisfied with the services offered. There are also many legal and ethical issues involved during organ transplantation in India and China. This primarily is due to the large-scale illegal purchase of tissues and organs in these countries. Despite these shortcomings, medical travel seems to be the way forward unless countries like the United States can manage to cut their medical costs drastically or start providing medical tourism insurance.
