Medical Tourism

 

Americans Lead Medical Tourism Exodus

The number of Americans heading abroad for medical procedures is surging as the country’s 46 million people without health insurance look for treatment they can afford and cashstrapped U.S. companies struggle to find cheaper ways to provide high-quality medical care to their employees, according to the American Medical Association.

Mexico has long attracted American travelers looking for cut-rate cosmetic surgery or dental work, and countries like Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines continue to lure medical tourists as well. But India – 15 hours away from the U.S. by plane – is fast becoming the destination of choice for patients seeking risky high-end procedures they can’t afford or can’t manage to schedule with a doctor they trust at home. These include things such as heart surgery, organ transplants and orthopedic procedures such as knee replacement or hip resurfacing.

Last year, the South Asian giant attracted 150,000 medical tourists from the United States, Britain, Africa and elsewhere in South Asia, largely by offering an enticing trio of advantages: highly trained English-speaking doctors, quick appointments and bargain-basement prices. In India, a heart bypass goes for $10,000 and a hip replacement for $9,000, compared with $130,000 and $43,000 respectively in the United States, the AMA said.

India’s initial rush of patients, however, may be nothing compared with what is to come. According to the AMA, major U.S. employers and insurers are exploring whether they could hold down soaring health-care costs by shipping their workers halfway across the world for elective surgery.

“Major (insurers) and employers may soon follow in the footsteps of individuals,” the medical association recognized in a report released last June. It acknowledged that “prices offered to medical tourists are often 60 to 85 percent lower than insurer-negotiated charges in the U.S., a margin that easily offsets travel, first-class hotel for the patient” and other expenses.

Medical tourism - the impact

By Sir Ronald Sanders
Business consultant and former Caribbean diplomat

The numbers are growing for medical tourism

Many of the state owned and operated hospitals in the Caribbean are in poor condition.
Notwithstanding competent doctors and nurses, the physical condition of many of the hospitals is bad and their equipment and technology are inadequate.

Against this background, it may seem odd that I am suggesting in this commentary that Caribbean governments, financial institutions and tourist resorts should invest in health tourism.

Nonetheless, I do suggest it as a chance not only to add a lucrative string to the bow of Caribbean tourism, but also as an opportunity to provide local people with better hospitals and improved health care for a wide range of illnesses.

Developing market

A huge market is rapidly developing in the United States, Canada and Europe of people who are going abroad to seek urgent medical attention, cosmetic surgery and rehabilitation in salubrious climes.

And, there is a massive drive by several developing countries to corner a significant portion of this growing industry.

During this month alone there are two events at which alliances will be built to take advantage of the opportunities that health tourism is opening.

The Department of Tourism in Kerala, a state in the South of India, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising a show and an international conference on health tourism which will be attended by prominent medical tourism hospitals, medical insurance companies and the travel trade.

The India alternative

The state minister for tourism Kodiveri Balakrishnan said: "As a state, Kerala is leading in the area of medical tourism… We are planning to announce a Medical Tourism Policy during the inaugural session” of the show.

Then, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation is sponsoring a World Health Tourism Congress, targeting Corporate Buyers in the HealthCare Tourism Industry, Medical and Wellbeing tourism, Ministries of Health, Corporations and Travel Agencies

There is good reason for this keen interest in medical tourism.

Some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, which operate public health-care systems, are so overburdened that it can take a year or more to get needed medical treatment including surgery for hip replacements.

Cost of going private

In some cases, even surgery for heart conditions can take months to schedule.

Consequently, people are opting to go abroad to places like India and Singapore to be treated immediately in private hospitals.

The cost of treatment in private hospitals in North America and Europe is much higher than it is in developing countries that have dedicated resources to medical tourism.

Study says medical tourism could be worth over US$2 billion by 2012.

A study conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry and McKinsey consultants estimated "medical tourism" could be worth over US$2 billion by 2012. The study revealed that last year over 150,000 foreigners visited India alone for treatment, with the number rising by 15% a year.

A similar number of Americans, dissatisfied with the escalating costs of health care, sought surgery abroad in 2006 and the number is growing.

Benefit to profit?

This is a reality recognised by US health insurance companies who see a benefit to their profits by offering their subscribers treatment at, for instance, Bumrungrad hospital in Thailand, if their policies do not cover the costs of US hospitals for procedures they need.

Increasingly, more private insurance providers will be doing the same.

The middle-east is also a growing market for medical tourism.

Many wealthy Arabs, who used to travel to Britain and the United States for medical treatment, have discovered that they can receive as good medical attention in better climates and at better prices in India, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia – all of whom are hustling to develop the market still further.

Healthy bank accounts

And, the private hospitals in these developing countries have extremely healthy bank accounts.

For instance, Mr. Chai Sophonpanich, the Chairman of the Thai hospital, Bumrungrad, which is a publicly traded company, reported at the end of 2005 that the hospital served more than a million patients from over 190 countries paying an impressive dividend to its shareholders.

Both at home and in the Diaspora, the Caribbean has highly trained and skilled doctors ranging from general practitioners to surgeons and specialists.

Caribbean nurses are also poached every day for work in the UK, the US and Canada.

Undoubtedly, they can provide as good a service and perhaps better to the growing market for medical tourism. It would keep their talent at home, and bring home many of them.

And, while they serve a lucrative foreign market at home, they could also give their skills to the local population whose costs could be subsidised by the foreign clientele.

But, such a development will require precisely what the state of Kerala is about to announce: a medical tourism policy by governments that includes incentives for private companies to invest in modern, well-equipped, well-paying hospitals and a strong marketing effort to promote the Caribbean as a health tourism destinations.

It will also need visionary companies and financial backers who recognise the opportunity that medical tourism presents and seize the moment to invest in it.

 

 

 

Record numbers go abroad for health treatment with 70,000 escaping NHS

Record numbers of Britons are travelling abroad for medical treatment to escape the NHS - with 70,000 patients expected to fly out this year.

And by the end of the decade 200,000 "health tourists" will fly as far as Malaysa and South Africa for major surgery to avoid long waiting lists and the rising threat of superbugs, according to a new report.

The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration of often waiting months for operations are fuelling the increasing trend.

Patients needing major heart surgery, hip operations and cataracts are using the internet to book operations to be carried out thousands of miles away.

India is the most popular destination for surgery, followed by Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Poland and Spain. But dozens more countries are attracting health tourists.

Research by the Treatment Abroad website shows that Britons have travelled to 112 foreign hospitals, based in 48 countries, to find safe, affordable treatment.

Almost all of those who had received treatment abroad said they would do the same again, with patients pointing out that some hospitals in India had screening policies for the superbug MRSA that have yet to be introduced in this country.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the figures were a "terrible indictment" of government policies that were undermining the efforts of NHS staff to provide quality services.

The findings come amid further revelations about the Government's mishandling of NHS policies, and ahead of official statistics that will embarrass ministers.

On Wednesday, figures are expected to show rising numbers of hospital infections. Cases of the superbug Clostridium difficile, which have risen five-fold in the past decade, are expected to increase beyond the 55,000 cases reported last year.

On the same day, statistics will show that vast sums have been spent on pay, with GPs' earnings rising by more than 50 per cent in three years to an average of more than £110,000.

New research shows that growing NHS bureaucracy has left nurses with little time to see patients – most spending long periods dealing with paperwork.

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients' Association, said the health tourism figures reflected shrinking public faith in the Government's handling of the NHS.

"The confidence that the public has in NHS hospitals has been shattered by the growth of hospital infections and this Government's failure to make a real commitment to tackling it," she told The Sunday Telegraph.

"People are simply frightened of going to NHS hospitals, so I am not surprised the numbers going abroad are increasing so rapidly.

"My fear is that most people can't afford to have private treatment – whether in this country or abroad."

Low prices in India, where flights, hotels and a heart bypass cost less than half the price charged by British private hospitals, explain its top ranking in the survey by Treatment Abroad, a British website providing information on hospitals overseas.

Hungary's popularity rests on a boom in dentistry, thanks to a shortage of NHS dentists in Britain.

The British Medical Association advised people to be careful when considering treatment abroad, highlighting the dangers of flying soon after surgery, which can cause complications.

A spokesman said: "Travelling can place a great deal of stress on the body. Patients travelling abroad for surgery should consider their fitness to fly and get an understanding of an appropriate convalescence period before attempting to return home."

A Department of Health official said the number of patients seeking treatment abroad was a tiny fraction of the 13 million treated on the NHS each year.

Waiting times had fallen. Almost half of patients were treated within 18 weeks of seeing a GP. Most people who had hospital care did not contract infections.

Expats Must be Insured

According to the results of the recent MediCare International Industry Report, 95% of those living and working overseas consider international health insurance to be essential for peace of mind.

In fact, 70% of those questioned still regard international private medical insurance as representing good value for money. Medicare says these results demonstrate that, while the UK market for health insurance has its problems, the market for specialist insurers such as MediCare International is still buoyant and expected to remain so.

David Pryor, Senior Executive Director, MediCare International comments, “Peace of mind is essential for expatriates and it pays to have sorted out your policy before you go overseas. We have comprehensive health policies covering every situation and eventuality, with the essential benefits that clients are looking for top of our list. Obviously a given essential in any policy, irrespective of the level of cover, is emergency evacuation in case of severe health problems along with repatriation of mortal remains should the need arise. However, other benefits that may not always have been included are being asked for by clients, such as cover for chronic care, choice of treatment location and war cover for those working in troubled hot spots.”

Included in all policies as an essential requirement, but not often thought about, repatriation costs vary from country to country and situation to situation. A typical case involving a 75 year old male who fractured his hip with complications in Spain, required air ambulance costs of GBP7,250 and other flights at GBP5,000 involving stretcher repatriation.

Repatriation of mortal remains is understandably a sensitive subject, but sadly one that also involves complex administration and a financial burden if you don’t have insurance in place to smooth the way. A recent client case for MediCare International involved the repatriation of mortal remains from France following death in a car crash, which cost GBP3,200. While another case, which involved repatriation of mortal remains from Singapore after a 73 year old client died as a result of respiratory problems, cost GBP6,600. Costs included arrangements for an overseas Funeral Director, documentation, embassy fee, coffin, mortuary fee, transfer costs within the country, flight costs to the UK and collection costs from a UK airport to local funeral parlour.

David Pryor continues: “At MediCare International we work very closely with our assistance service, the CEGA Group, to provide effective medical assistance, with round-the-clock global medical services such as repatriation.

Through CEGA, who operates its own fleet of air ambulances, we are able to repatriate travellers from anywhere in the world back to the UK. What’s more our claims handling service is one of the fastest in the market with 10 day claims settlement as normal and 7 day settlement in many cases. This also helps when it comes to the sensitive subject of repatriation of mortal remains, when we are understandably dealing with grief-stricken family and colleagues and we like to do all we can to help ease the whole process.”

Medical tourism has quickly become a worldwide, billion-dollar industry.

Medical tourism or medical travel is the act of going to another country to obtain medical, dental or surgical treatment. Often, the trip is a combination of getting medical treatment while on vacation or holiday.

Health travel offers many benefits. Many people seek treatment that's available at a fraction of the cost. Other people are frustrated by long waiting times. In Great Britain, many patients can't wait for treatment but also can't afford to see a physician in private practice. For others, medical tourism is an opportunity to combine a tropical acation.....sun, sand and surgery.

Medical tourism is an old custom. In ancient Greece, pilgrims and patients came from all over the Mediterranean to see the healing god, Asklepios. In Roman times, people in Britain traveled to the waters in Bath. In Europe in the 18th century, people from all over Europe traveled to health spas along the Nile. Now in the 21st century, the ease of global travel has made this practice possible for anyone. 

 

Medical Tourism in Motion

In the US, as healthcare cost spiral, individuals and corporations are looking further afield than the domestic option, to seek healthcare. For xenophobic Americans whom once would have balked at treatment in another state, medical tourism is a major progression. One particular case alone may save a certain papermill $50,000. And instead of stacking up $20,000 in debt to have the operations in the US, their worker may now get up to $10,000 back as a share of the savings. He’ll also get to see the Taj Mahal as part of a two-day our before the surgery. With US health insurance costs soaring, cash squeezed companies and poor states are considering affordable plans that may require their employees to travel to India, Thailand, or Indonesia. Critics say that limited malpractice laws in foreign ountries makes such travel risky as well as the prospect of spending 20 hours on an airplane after invasive surgery. Despite the concerns, “medical tourism” is morphing into “global healthcare.” And its changing the face of not only American healthcare but western ealthcare as a whole. The cost savings have prompted a few hundred Americans this year to fly to India, Jakarta, or Bangkok for serious medical conditions, receiving heart stints and hip replacements. This, it is anticipated, will rapidly multiply, if early cases prove successful, not only fiscally but physically.

 

Healthcare Tourism Agents

GlobalChoice Healthcare, a leading provider of cost-saving medical procedure packages throughout the world, today announced exclusive partnerships with two key regional travel agencies to provide medical travel services to consumers seeking medical care overseas.

The first agreement is with Rio Grande Travel, an Albuquerque-based agency with 11 offices in the Southwest and three in Illinois, including more than 300 corporate clients and a large individual client base. The second agreement is with Solimar Travel Experience, a boutique travel agency based in Washington, D.C. that specializes in Costa Rican tourism. “Understandably, individuals considering medical travel often inquire first with a travel agency,” says Kenneth J. Erickson, Jr., chief executive officer of GlobalChoice Healthcare. “But, traveling overseas for medical care shouldn’t be taken lightly, and it should be coordinated by a company focused on medicine. By joining forces with these leading travel agencies, we can assist prospective clients in streamlining their search for affordable, high-quality health care.” Under the terms of the agreement, any Rio Grande or Solimar clients requesting medical travel will be referred to GlobalChoice to provide all medical travel-related services. These services include scheduling clients’ procedures, transferring medical records, arranging travel and accommodations, and providing access to on-theground local assistance for the duration of clients’ stay. GlobalChoice works with a network of world-class hospitals in Singapore, Costa Rica, and India, and provides access to more than 100 medical procedures, including certain orthopedic, cardiovascular, cosmetic and dental surgeries.

With the ranks of the uninsured climbing to 45 million, and healthcare costs increasing by an average of 10 percent per year, medical care is out-of-reach for many Americans. This year alone, upwards of 500,000 Americans are expected to travel overseas for medical care where, in many countries, costs can average 50 to 70 percent less than in the U.S. According to David Hancock, author of The Complete Medical Tourist, global medical tourism is expected to be a $40 billion-a-year industry by 2010.

About GlobalChoice Healthcare GlobalChoice Healthcare assembles medical procedure packages throughout the world that deliver quality healthcare at significant savings.

The company serves individuals, health insurers, self-insured corporations, employee and retiree benefit plans and the international patient broker community. GlobalChoice Healthcare is a privately held company headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico and maintains offices in Seattle, Washington; Edison, New Jersey; Singapore; and Delhi, India.

International Health Tourism

Health tourism is providing health care without frontiers in a truly global market.

Countries as diverse as Turkey, India, South Africa, Argentina and Lebanon are embracing the International opportunity to attract patients with a combination of medical quality, speedy treatment, comparatively low cost health care, and tourism.

Patients have been seeking health benefits abroad since the 19th century, with resorts on the European mainland and beyond gaining plaudits from the fashionable upper-classes, for their miraculous healing benefits. In the 21st century, an era of relative wealth, Internet communication and cheap and easy air travel, health tourism is a rapidly burgeoning commercial market with an infrastructure that is becoming increasingly sophisticated. In 2006, the type of health care available abroad goes some way beyond miraculous waters and leeches, and health tourism is truly migratory. All this and the recent EU law changes ruling that national health bodies will have to provide International health care options to their patients, today’s health care has no frontiers and few limits in a truly global market.

In Europe, probably the seminal territory of healthcare tourism, Munich International Airport is a centre for health care tourism. Featuring two surgery rooms and 13 beds, individually designed packages can include diagnosis, inpatient or outpatient surgery, hotel accommodation, transfer to a partner clinic for long-term treatments, and sightseeing programs for patients and their families. The clinic will even collect patients at the aircraft and take them through immigration. Specialties include orthopedics, hand surgery, plastic surgery, endocrinology, minimally invasive surgery for various conditions, ophthalmics, ear-nose-throat medicine, urology, gynecology, gastroenterology, and treatment of cardiovascular conditions. The clinic even has a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner.

Eastern Europe countries, bidding forEU membership, are keen to prove their medical standards are comparable with EU member countries. Lithuania had no difficulties complying with the EU requirements, is active in the health tourism market, providing health care at comparatively low cost and has been welcoming patients from the UK, mainland Europe and the U.S.

Elsewhere, there are few corners of the world that are not actively involved in the health tourism phenomena. In South America, Argentina has emerged with a reputation for what might be called cutting edge for plastic surgery and has become a booming tourist draw amid the country’s ongoing economic crisis, as the devaluation of the peso makes aesthetic enhancement more affordable to foreigners. In the Middle-east a sophisticated and well established understanding of intercountry healthcare is well established. In Jordan 30 percent of private sector patients come from the surrounding countries of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and other Middle East countries. The combination of highly qualified Jordanian medical personnel, up-to-date facilities, relatively low costs for sophisticated as well as general medical treatments and surgeries makes Jordan highly competitive in the provision of healthcare services for both its domestic and regional patients.

In neighboring Dubai, a well publicized programme of development is seeing a spectacular and somewhat unearthly new world of steel and glass emerging from the desert dust. At the forefront of Dubai’s rapid development is tourism, and a key part of this is health tourism. Dubai sees itself as well positioned and capable of attracting visitors for this sector, from Middle Eastern countries and, in particular, the neighbouring Gulf states, Asia, particularly the subcontinent, and from parts of Africa. In the longer term there is also a large supply potential from some European and North American countries.

For Dubai to succeed in attracting this market, developers admit that appropriate planning, legislation, infrastructure building is required, and crucially, a supply of internationally renowned specialists and a strong promotional campaign must take place. The plan to build a Health care City in Dubai is a key strategy. There are, however, many challenges which will have to be overcome for Dubai to reach its goal. For example, the perception of the healthcare service in Dubai. Plus Dubai salaries are comparatively high in the middle-east, and so neighboring states and East European countries will provide stiff competition to patients without insurance or state funding. For Dubai, as with all its development in commerce and real-estate, the potential for health tourism in Dubai is vast. The proximity of Dubai as a healthcare centre to its potential supply countries.

In the Lebanon, health and wellness tourism, an innovative niche market in Lebanon’s tourist industry, is about to move out of the specialty market and become an important asset to the Lebanese economy with the establishment of the Lebanese Council for National Health Tourism. While the international travel and tourism industry continues to be hit by war, terrorism and economic weakness, a growing awareness of tourism’s capacity to promote health tourism has fueled investment in this area. With this ambition, the Lebanese Council for National Health Tourism has invested over $500,000 (euros 415,000) in the brand new industry with the aim of getting travel-related commerce back on course and turning Lebanon into the biggest hospitalization sector in the region, which will have a direct and positive impact on the country’s economy. According to Mr. Khalil Malaeb, General Manager of K & M International, who is entrusted to promote this new sector, health care and hospitalization services are well developed in the country and are an integral part of Lebanese culture. Lebanon has over 130 years of excellent medical experience. So far, the council has managed, through teamwork with various health ministries and related sectors, to create concrete relationships with seven Arab Countries, including Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Kuwait.

Although health tourism has been a large and even lucrative industry in other countries in the region, Malaeb believes that Lebanon has as much, if not more, medical experience to offer and can be competitive. Health tourism has endless opportunities and benefits, and it ties extremely well into Lebanon’s reputation as a rejuvenating place and a healthy state. Lebanon is returning to its roots, as is demonstrated by the promotion campaign of a 19th century photograph that shows Lebanon’s medical experience dates back to the early 1800s. “With only one month since its launch, we have already attracted some 50 clients from the Arab World,” Malaeb said. With the anticipation of eventually covering all 22 Arab countries, the council is aiming to train all parties involved, enabling them to become acquainted with the existence of this sector and the market, and provide detailed, accurate information to clients “The key in creating this industry and succeeding in it depends completely on Lebanon’s excellent doctors and their experience as well as Lebanese universities, which have the highest standard of medical education,” Malaeb added. Medical assistance includes pediatrics, psychiatry, surgery, orthopedics, the ophthalmology program, the ENT program, obstetrics, gynecology and other areas. The council also offers an executive check-up program designed to meet the individual needs of each patient and address health issues, make recommendations for any further testing or follow up and counseling about personal health habits. A schedule of tests and consultations is prepared based on information patients provide before the visit. The executive check-up program takes one to two days. “The patient has to come a few days in advance for his check-up and stay for a certain time even after medical assistance.”

According to the statistics of the council, Lebanon has 10,500 doctors who have completed their specializations in European, North American and Lebanese universities, 48 medical societies, 161 hospitals, 48 hospitals with international accreditation, 144 medium and short stay hospitals, 17 hospitals for long term stays and seven university hospitals. The importance of this council lies in the fact that it provides the patients who come to Lebanon with all facilities and services from the moment they leave their country to the moment of their return. Pre-planned, tailor made packages are prepared to make patients and that families accompanying them, feel at home and to let them get the most out of their “healthy visit”. Phuket, in Southern Thailand, world famous as a tourist destination, and more latterly for being in the eye of the tsunami tragedy, is a center of international commerce, a hub for the development of the entire Andaman region, as well as a center of higher education and fast becoming a medical holiday destination.

The Bangkok Phuket Hospital has been meeting the medical needs of international clients for more than eight years, with English-speaking, UK and America trained health professionals on staff. A member of the first and largest integrated hospital group in South East Asia, the Bangkok Hospital Group level of medical care and patient comfort are attracting patients from all around the world. Like many institutions, it offers a complete package service from scheduling to travel arrangements, accommodation car hire and even tours, and the competition in Malaysia is very competitive. Recently, in a bid to legislate the market, the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) finalised the recommended fees for the common health tourism packages, Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said: “ A sub-committee on fee packaging, chaired by the APHM recently, had finalised the recommended fees to ensure that tourists coming to Malaysia for medical reasons get value for their money.”

The fees were highly affordable and competitive internationally. “Basically, there are three health screening packages – the Basic Health Screening package, the Well Woman package and the Well Man package with fees ranging from RM450 (Euros) to RM1,150 (Euros) depending on the number and complexity of tests performed,’’ he said when opening the

Penang Adventist Hospital’s Clinical Pathology Laboratory services and launch of the Architect ci 8200 Analyser. He added that the packages would also include minimum and maximum recommended fees for 18 procedures commonly performed in cardiology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, plastic surgery and diagnostics such as endoscopy, MRI and CT-scan. Chua said the Government was making efforts to expand the health tourism industry in a big way and had identified health tourism as one of the potential growth areas in the country’s tourism industry.“A survey commissioned by the Government last year estimated that our foreign patient market was worth close to RM90mil and admission of foreign patients into our healthcare facilities have grown at an annual rate of about 30% over the past three years,’’ he said. Chua added that 35 private hospitals were identified and currently being promoted as providers of health tourism services. “Although none of our Health Ministry hospitals has yet to be promoted as a provider of health tourism services, the setting up of many new, sophisticated and ultra-modern hospitals under the ministry have been identified as prime movers of health tourism in the future. “Our public hospitals have the potential of raking in at least RM2bil a year in health tourism earnings by the year 2010,’’ he said. Southeast Asia has proved irresistible to ailing tourists. Singapore entered the clinical fray about a decade ago, followed by Thailand a few years later; now Malaysia is on the health-tourism bandwagon.

Efforts to promote Malaysia as a health tourism destination are starting to pay off with more foreign tourists coming to the country for treatment and recuperation, Health Ministry parliamentary secretatry S. Sothinathan said. He said they were attracted by the affordable costs and quality healthcare facilities offer by private hospitals. “The Health Ministry will cooperate with these hospitals, tour agencies and other relevant bodies to come out with packages to attract more of such tourists,” Sothinathan said after opening the Atmos Medizintecknik (Asia) office in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. Sothinathan said about 100,000 foreign toursits sought treatment in hospitals in 2001 which generated revenue of RM 150 million compared to about 39,000 tourists and RM 90 million in revenue in 1998. “We have set a target of RM 400 million (Euros) in revenue within a few years and RM 2.2 billion by 2010,” he said. He said there were over 200 private medical centres with over 10,000 beds in the country, accounting for about 25% of the total number of hospital beds in the country compared to 50 private hospitals with 2,000 beds in 1980. Malaysia was chosen as the hub because the healthcare standards in the country were on par with the western countries and better than some developing countries.

Capitalizing on its Western-trained medics and a favorable exchange rate (neighboring Singapore’s treatments cost twice as much), Malaysia’s wards now benefit everything from laparoscopic surgery to liposuction. And patients are flocking: the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) claims that in 2002 nearly 85,000 medical tourists checked themselves in to Malaysian clinics, mostly from Indonesia and other Asian countries but also many from Europe. “We’re multicultural and multilingual,” says the association’s Datuk Dr. Ridzwan Bakar. “And we’re the most competitively priced country in the Asia- Pacific region, bar India.” Malaysia’s other major selling point is its ability to perform difficult treatments. Among the most popularly requested operations are cardiac bypass surgery, the National Heart Institute is a leading center in the region, and fertility treatments, with the country’s premier Damansara Fertility Centre claiming in vitro success rates that match top U.S. clinics’.

There are few corners of the Earth where health care tourism is not positioned as a key component of development and change. Territories actively working to alter the world’s perceptions, after decades of unrest, economic depravation and war. Then there are parts of the world, renowned for their beauty where conventional tourism is being packaged with low cost health care. It is a curious paradox that countries such as the UK, mainland Europe and U.S. are the main source of the world’s health tourism market. Without question, the rapid development of this phenomenon raises many opportunities as well as challenges, both for the health care sector and governments, and in forthcoming issues, Healthcare International will report on the sector, and invites contribution from the health care community.

Medical Tourism Growth

Medical Tourism continues to experience a high growth rate, and one of the most important factors contributing to this is the standardization of medical procedures, practices and equipments.

Organizations, government bodies and medical institutions have been trying to set up some global standards and have been successful to a large extent.

Today specialist doctors often travel to foreign countries to get acquainted with their medical practices and this helps to spread the knowledge. Global availability of prescription drugs, use of standard medical terminologies, helps doctors to create benchmarks for their service. Countries like India and Malaysia have emerged as the major hubs for medical tourism.

One of the main advantages in these countries is that most good doctors are trained in US, Canada, UK or other developed nations and are members of one or more international professional associations. Some of them would also have the experience of working with hospitals in the USA, Canada and other foreign countries. This rich experience and high level of knowledge help the doctors to assure their patients of similar high quality service that they would receive in their home country. India is probably the most preferred destination of medical tourism.

Not only are the doctors in India highly educated and experienced but also the infrastructure and medical facilities available there are at par, if not better than most developed countries. The inherent hospitable nature of the Indians probably makes the best nurses and doctors in the world.

Most private hospitals in India offer very high level of medical care and hospital experience and some of the top hospitals are members of international medical associations. In addition, the cost of treatment in these countries is often lower by 50% or more compared to the cost of similar treatment in USA, UK or other developed countries. Also, while most advanced countries would require the patients to wait for long periods before undergoing any critical treatment or major operation, in most of these medical tourism destinations, the waiting time is virtually nil. Medical tourism brings together world-class treatment at affordable cost with no waiting time.

While Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia are close competitors, India still retains her lead by virtue of the incredible experience that it can offer to tourists in terms of the multi-cultural population, natural beauty, rich history, colorful festivals and mouth watering cuisines.

The patients not only get a chance to avail world-class medical treatment but also can enjoy an enriching experience during a pre or post treatment stay in India.