Medical Tourism – Traveling For Health
Medical tourism is all the rage in many countries nowadays. Many patients who require complex surgeries or medical procedures for their ailments are now traveling abroad to get treated. Patients from UK, USA, and many other developed countries are moving to Asian countries like India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand. In these countries, these people receive superior healthcare at a fraction of what it would cost in their homeland.
Reasons for people opting for medical tourism
There are many reasons why people from developed countries choose to get their ailments treated abroad. Some of the important reasons include:
- The quality of healthcare services that they find in other countries often rivals what they would receive at home. Most doctors and healthcare professionals are highly qualified. Besides, most hospitals and healthcare facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art provisions for treatment.
- The cost of treatment in the countries noted for medical tourism is often a fraction of what is required for the same services in developed countries. In fact, for a fraction of the price required in the US for a heart bypass, patients from the US can travel to India, get treated, and top it off with a small vacation at any popular tourist destination within the country.
- Employer-sponsored healthcare policies are now starting to include complete cost coverage of healthcare for employees who travel abroad to get treated. This has resulted in the employees getting good healthcare and the employer having to pay much less.
- Some contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, typhoid, and malaria are often misdiagnosed in developed countries because most doctors and healthcare officials believe such diseases cannot happen in their country. In tropical countries like India, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc., doctors are more open to accepting the possibility that the patient might indeed have a contagious disease.
- Last, but not least, many insurance companies in developed countries are now providing full coverage of the healthcare costs incurred by the insured patient choosing to get the treatment done abroad. The patients are happy because they are getting good healthcare plus the benefit of a vacation, while the insurance company has to pay a much smaller amount to the patient.
All these benefits have inspired many patients in developed countries to opt for treatments for their ailments in a foreign country. In the coming years, health tourism is expected to gain even more popularity.
