The modern trend in privatization of health services is medical tourism, which is gaining importance in developing countries. Medical tourism, as the practice is known, is speedily becoming the top choice for consumers who make out with heavy medical bills. Patients who might normally experience some sort of medical treatments in the United States, usually an expensive surgical procedure, instead fly to the Bangkok, Thailand or other countries to have the medical procedures done there. As a result, they save an large amount of money. Offshore medical treatment can be performed for as little as one-tenth the cost of what would normally be charged here in the United States.
Medical tourism mainly intends to travel to foreign countries to get medical, dental, and surgical treatment. At the same time they could also tour, and fully feel the attractions of the countries they visit. Outrageous costs of healthcare in industrialized nations, ease and affordability of international travel, pleasing currency exchange rates in the global economy, speedily improving technology and standards of care in many countries of the world, and most importantly proven safety of healthcare in select foreign nations have all led to the arise of medical tourism.
Medical tourism is actually thousands of years old. It has grown to remarkable scale in just a few years, and is planned to continue growing steeply according to studies by the World Bank. In financial terms, experts calculated that medical tourism could bring India as much as $2.2 billion per year by 2012. Major centers for medical tourism are Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Bangkok and Phuket. Medical tourism has now become a booming industry in these countries.
More and more people travel abroad due to low-priced, pleasurable, and safe alternative to having medical, dental, and surgical procedures done in their home countries. Yet, for growing numbers of travelers, the entice of combining low-cost medical care with attentive room service is a major reason for packing a bag and boarding a plane. The key “selling points” of the medical tourism industry are its “cost effectuality” and its mixture with the attractions of tourism. The latter also uses the ploy of selling the “exotica” of the countries involved as well as the packaging of health care with traditional therapies and treatment methods.
Medical tourism India is a developing concept whereby people from world over visit India for their medical and relaxation needs. Most common treatments are heart surgery, knee transplant, cosmetic surgery and dental care. The reason India is a hot-spot destination is because of its infrastructure and technology in which is in par with those in USA, UK and Europe. India has some of the best hospitals and treatment centers in the world with the best facilities.
