Category Archives: Medical Tourism/Health Tourism

Medical Tourism ? A Fast Developing Sector In Healthcare Industry In Malaysia

Medical Tourism is fast developing sector in healthcare industry in Malaysia. Year on year basis for last 5 years medical tourism in Malaysia, is growing with estimated exponential growth of about 30%.

The key factors of burgeoning rise in medical tourists in Malaysia are its affordable healthcare packages, excellent tourist attractions, world class infra structure, wide network of latest communication systems. An award winning Malaysian Airlines, MAS, service flying form all around the world, to Malaysia. An even low cost local airlines service providers like Airlines and Firefly has added affordability to this sector of development for medical tourism. An English speaking country, where healthcare system is wholly based on English and it is widely spoken at all level of work in healthcare facilities. The high conversion of USD to local currency, ringgit Malaysia also provides an excellent opportunity for travelers and tourists to come to Malaysia, to get more out of their money.

The most important components in medical tourisms are healthcare providers and facilitators. Medical Tourism Facilitators are the first contact with the patients in this industry. Medical tourism facilitator, websites like wellnessvisit.com, are there to provide all important arrangements like choosing the right procedure and best available hospital and healthcare provider, connecting consultant doctors with the patients, getting information channeled to and fro till finalizing the medical tourism journey for a patient who had no experience, of this before.

Medical Tourism Facilitators, like wellnessvisit.com, are there at the provider’s side to arrange all tour and travel services, booking hotel accommodations, receiving at airport, arranging personal assistants and helpers to concierge all the trip into a personalized affair. There are more service addition with the development of this industry. Medical tourism facilitators are arranging insurance policies, providing some home healthcare facilities through their partners.

Medical tourism is certainly becoming a hope for more and more countries and healthcare providers to reduce the increasing costs and over the waiting time issue for certain important procedures for their patients, due to shortage of experts. On the other hand it is shaping a new industry in tourism and health for revenue generation. Thus countries like Malaysia are fast becoming a hub for medical tourism and providing affordable healthcare packages for medical tourists from around the world at world class facilities.

Wellnessvisit.com takes care of all the steps to make medical tourism and health tourism trip a success.

Ecuador Medical Tourism

What is “Medical Tourism”?

Ecuador Medical Tourism or “Global Healthcare” involves traveling to a foreign country for a medical procedure. Occasionally the medical procedure is urgent, but more often than not it is an elective treatment such as cosmetic surgery or dental care.

The number of people seeking healthcare in foreign countries now runs into millions per year. Most patients are Westerners attracted to the concept of quality surgical treatment for a fraction of the cost they would pay in their own countries. After receiving the medical treatment, the patients often take a relaxing recovery vacation in the same country. Often patients can pay for their surgery, flight and a week or two at a resort for a fraction of what they would have paid back at home.

Popular elective medical services include knee or hip joint replacements, cardiac surgery, cosmetic surgery and dental surgery. Patients in need of emergency procedures are also attracted to this concept because the wait-period for certain operations can take up to a year or more in their own countries. Often they can have the procedure done immediately in another country.

Source: http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com/userfiles/files/Pricing Chart 2010.pdf

Ecuador is not mentioned on this list. However, Ecuador offers excellent medical services for economical prices, especially in Cuenca. We have lived in Cuenca now for over two years, and have witnessed many examples of foreigners having medical and dental treatment while they have been here. Without exception, we have only heard excellent feedback.

For more information on Medical Tourism in Ecuador make sure you check out the website below.

Medical Tourism

Medical tourism is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling to another country to obtain health care. More recently, the phrases global healthcare and medical journeys have emerged as synonyms.

Such services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement (knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries. The provider and customer use informal channels of communication-connection-contract, with less regulatory or legal oversight to assure quality and less formal recourse to reimbursement or redress, if needed. Leisure aspects typically associated with travel and tourism may be included on such medical travel trips.

A specialized subset of medical tourism is reproductive tourism, which is the practice of traveling abroad to undergo in-vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technology treatments.

The concept of medical tourism is not a new one. The first recorded instance of medical tourism dates back thousands of years to when Greek pilgrims traveled from all over the Mediterranean to the small territory in the Saronic Gulf called Epidauria. This territory was the sanctuary of the healing god Asklepios. Epidauria became the original travel destination for medical tourism.

Spa towns and sanitariums may be considered an early form of medical tourism. In eighteenth century England, for example, medtrotters visited spas because they were places with supposedly health-giving mineral waters, treating diseases from gout to liver disorders and bronchitis.

The cost of surgery in Bolivia, Argentina, Cuba, India, Thailand, Colombia, Philippines or South Africa can be one-tenth of what it is in the United States or Western Europe, and sometimes even less. A heart-valve replacement that would cost US0,000 or more in the U.S., for example, goes for ,000 in the Philippines and India-and that includes round-trip airfare and a brief vacation package. Similarly, a metal-free dental bridge worth ,500 in the U.S. costs 0 in India or Bolivia and only 0 in the Philippines, a knee replacement in Thailand with six days of physical therapy costs about one-fifth of what it would in the States,
and Lasik eye surgery worth ,700 in the U.S. is available in many other countries for only 0. Cosmetic surgery savings are even greater: A full facelift that would cost ,000 in the U.S. runs about ,000 in Cuba, ,700 in the Philippines or ,500 in South Africa or $ 2,300 in Bolivia.”

Easy Destination World City Travel Guide brings to you the most popular medical destination from around the world. These places are recommended by famous doctors and Health Departments of various countries on being less expansive with world standards medical facilities and specif field these countries are specialized in.

For more details follow the link Medical Tourism

Baltic Countries are the Newest Entrants to Europe’s Dental Tourism Competition

When Baltic States like Latvia were part of the Soviet Union, dental treatment of all kinds was clearly inferior to that offered in the West. For example, the lack of powerful anesthetics made a trip to the dentist a nightmare of pain and stress. Horror stories were common and no one in their right mind wanted to have a cavity filled or worse still, endure an extraction.

Nowadays all that’s changed as 2 decades of development have brought these countries up to and sometimes above the level of their Western counterparts. Indeed, every year thousands of patients from old industrialized EU countries are taking advantage of First World dental care at Third World prices. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Latvia’s capital, Riga, where dozens of clinics compete for patients arriving from Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and as far away as the US.

There’s a good reason for all the travel. Even when the costs of a plane ticket and hotel are calculated, treatment in Riga will be significantly cheaper than at home. The difference is even greater when the patient requires multiple procedures or treatment for several teeth. Beyond steep discounts which offer remarkable dental treatment bargains, the long waiting times for treatment in their home countries remains another important factor stimulating patient interest.

From the clinics’ point of view, this influx of foreign patients couldn’t come at a better time as a deep recession has made local patients quite reluctant to spend money on dental procedures. In response, the level of attention and service is clearly on the upswing. Clinics like Baltic Dental Services in Riga are offering new patients an array sharply discounted standard procedures like cleaning and whitening, while providing visiting patients extra concierge services like airport transit and hotel reservations assistance.

Dr. Olga Galkina, one of Baltic Dental’s busiest dentists, describes the new attitude this way, “We want the patient to feel completely at ease with our clinic, as if they were visiting their local dentist – but we know we must do more because the patient is traveling so far.” Dr. Galkina, a statuesque blonde who could easily pass for a fashion model, is serious about making her patients feel at home; in her spare time she studies Norwegian, soon to add it to her French, Italian, Russian, and English. In addition to language fluency, Dr Galkina opens her clinic on Sunday to accommodate the weekend visitor, an important advantage since many foreign patients cannot afford to miss many workdays.

With increased competition comes the need for increased visibility and ways to communicate the differences between various clinics. Many dental clinics use in-flight advertising, however, most agree the best advertising will always be word of mouth referral. It’s a powerful message when one hears about a friend or business associate receiving excellent treatment for a low price. This kind of “organic” growth must be earned and is what most Riga dentists insist is the reason for rapid growth in the number of loyal patients who return year after year.

While price is a key factor in driving demand, of course there are limits. Recently dentists in Sweden lowered prices to compete with their Baltic neighbors. And, costs for equipment and materials continue rise, further narrowing the price advantage. Even so, the labor rates for professional services are much cheaper in countries like Latvia and labor is the major cost driver in all dental procedures.

The future looks bright for dental tourism in the Baltics. Countries like Latvia have now joined the long list of developing countries like India, Thailand and Mexico, who have found a new way to profit from the globalization of medical and dental services.