Medical tourism, heading abroad to receive medical care, is growing every year. More than fourteen million people prefer treatment overseas rather than in their native countries, and the number of medical travelers is increasing annually. Let’s consider the phenomenon of the medical tourism industry and why patients go abroad to look for treatment.
Reasonable Prices
The key reason why people explore new medical destinations is the treatment cost. For instance, citizens of the USA and the UK have to pay a lot of money for health insurance, but unfortunately, that health insurance does not cover all medical procedures. For instance, dentistry or plastic surgery is not covered by insurance and costs the individual a lot of money. These procedures are more affordable in Turkey, Thailand, South Korea, and Mexico. Visiting mentioned countries to fix teeth or improve the appearance is about 60-70% cheaper than in the UK or the USA.
New Treatment Options
Another reason people often travel abroad for medical treatment is in order to receive new or experimental treatments not available in their native countries. For example, treatment with stem cells is not approved by the FDA and is not available in the USA. So, Americans find this option in other countries like Turkey, Spain, Ukraine, and Poland. This specific treatment can be helpful in the case of multiple sclerosis, arthrosis, and aging processes.
Also, patients from developing countries can receive access to the latest developments and innovative treatment options and techniques abroad. This saves thousands of lives every year as a patient with cancer or other severe diseases can consult with any specialist in the world, participate in medical trials, and get therapy in a top hospital.
Absence of Queues
The healthcare system in the UK provides patients with medical procedures covered by insurance in most cases. However, often people need to wait for months to be diagnosed or get a consultation with a doctor. Such a situation forces patients to seek medical assistance abroad as people cannot afford to waste time when it comes to their health—especially when it concerns medical tourists with uncommon pathologies or those who need urgent surgery.
Treatment during Vacations
One more advantage of medical tourism is the unique possibility to combine a vacation with treatment. Just imagine, you get to rest on picturesque Indian or Thai coasts, and you can renovate your smile or do some cosmetic procedures all in one trip. You will return home after vacation with a new smile or improved appearance!
Easy Travel Arrangement
It sounds good to go abroad for a cheaper and more desirable treatment; however, people experience some difficulty choosing a medical tourism destination, and contacting and booking a hospital. Moreover, they may not feel safe and may have some fear of having surgery or an operation abroad.
There are a lot of medical tourism agencies offering their services to arrange a medical trip. One of the biggest medical tourism platforms is Bookimed, where you can pick a necessary hospital online or consult by phone with a Bookimed manager regarding the best options in your case. This medical tourism platform assists international patients in hospital booking, scheduling operations/surgeries, online consultation with a doctor, and travel arrangement. All these services do not affect the treatment price.
Bookimed managers will be in touch with you during your treatment to help solve unforeseen problems, so you will feel safe and focus on the treatment, not some arrangements.
Conclusion
Medical tourism is a fast-growing industry that is involving more and more people year by year. It erases boundaries between countries making the latest treatment options accessible for everyone, and allows people to receive treatment cheaper and faster. All that patients need to do is pick a hospital online by themselves or request a medical tourism platform for assistance.
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