Traveling outside of one’s country of residence to receive medical treatment is known as medical tourism. In many cases, people seek a procedure or surgery that is either too expensive in their home country or unavailable. This process of receiving healthcare or treatment abroad is also known as global healthcare or health tourism.
If you are in the early stages of launching a medical travel company, there are specific steps you need to take to give your venture the best chance at long-term success, and it starts with medical tourism education. If you are going to be a participant in the global healthcare industry, you owe it to yourself to understand the latest trends, new developments, and best practices.
If you are a beginner, here are some interesting things about health tourism you may not know yet:
Low-Cost Medical Treatment
The cost of surgery is considerably lower, up to 80% in some countries. The difference can be enormous if one does not have medical insurance or one’s procedure (e.g., cosmetic surgery) is not covered by insurance. Due to their low costs, numerous medical tourism destinations attract massive amounts of international patients each year. The cheap labor cost is the primary factor for the low medical treatment prices in some popular medical tourism destinations.
Luxurious Facilities
Some patients choose foreign hospitals for their spa-like facilities, seeing pampered treatment as one of the benefits of their inexpensive surgery. The facility offers hospital rooms that are more like hotel suites than standard rooms. Generally, hospitals allow for more staff to be assigned to patients one on one, resulting in far more personalized care.
Experienced Surgeons
Some countries have surgeons specializing in a particular area of surgery. For example, Turkish surgeons have a sterling reputation for their expertise in hair transplantation. Among medical tourism destinations for gender reassignment, Thailand is the primary choice. A surgeon’s skills and reputation can be improved if they perform a procedure frequently.
Travel Opportunities
Having the opportunity to travel abroad is a benefit of medical tourism. Dental, cosmetic, and wellness tourism are among the most popular medical tourism activities because they offer the opportunity to travel overseas and receive less expensive healthcare.
Legal Aspect and Complications
A patient may get a bacterial infection or experience complications after a surgical operation. There is no way to predict how someone’s body will respond to a particular procedure. For this reason, patient waiver contracts and other risk mitigation tools need to be in place beforehand.
Communication Issues
Miscommunication can cause severe issues during overseas medical procedures. The patient may not be able to communicate their health issues, needs, or wants to the overseas healthcare provider. Communication can be a major issue in a foreign country. This is why medical tourism coordinators need to make sure someone on staff speaks the patient’s native language or make sure there is an interpreter handy.
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