Global Healthcare Medical Tourism

Medical tourism refers to people who go to foreign countries to get medical help. In recent years, the popularity of medical tourism has been increasing. There are many factors that have contributed to this – high costs of healthcare in industrialized countries, waiting lists in countries with public healthcare, ease and affordability of international travel, and better technology across the world.

As more and more people choose to go overseas to get medical healthcare, some countries’ economies are suffering as others are flourishing. It is a known fact that healthcare in the United States can be quite expensive whereas in Canada people are put on waiting lists and no one knows for how long! Americans are loosing medical patients to countries such as Thailand and India since the cost of healthcare there is sometimes as low as 10% of what it is in the Unites States and their hospitals are a lot like hotels with excellent medical care. At the same time, however, Americans are gaining patients from Canada who are willing to pay the higher prices because they do not want to wait. These are only few examples of countries involved in medical tourism. In fact, it is global phenomenon. Developing countries offer cheaper healthcare and in many cases it is similar in quality as the healthcare in developed countries. Furthermore, many countries specialize in medical tourism; therefore they make sure that their patients receive more personal care.

There are other benefits of medical tourism. One of the reasons why people sometimes choose to go to foreign countries for medical healthcare is the tourism. Why not enjoying a sunny beach after being treated & cured at the hospital? Thus, tourist sites and airlines also gain from medical tourism.

As many other industries, medical care has become truly global.

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