Medical Tourism: World-Class Medical Care At Affordable Rates by Annie Ramm
The U.S. health system is the best in the world! --- Only if you can access and pay it. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a good health system should ideally be part of the state of the art facilities of medicine to be distributed equally among all people to fair and affordable prices. Contrary to this, the health system in the United States is not only the world's most expensive, but it is unequally distributed among its population. People who have access to insurance coverage can have a break, but the situation is hopeless for the poor, uninsured and the underinsured. The increase in technology costs and high administrative costs have increased overall medical expenses to the extent that it has become too expensive for the people in general. On the other hand, the availability of similar medical facilities at fair prices in some countries on the high seas has become a promising target for health of U.S. citizens. This has led to the emergence of a phenomenon called medical tourism.
The recent years have seen an increase in the number of U.S. citizens who opt for medical treatment in offshore locations like India, Singapore , Bangkok and Thailand . Most medical procedures in these countries are carried out in a tenth the cost of a similar procedure in the United States. The low cost of medical services in these countries may raise some eyebrows in relation to the quality of medical services offered. These countries offer world-class medical services that are on par with the best. Some of the doctors in the management of patients have even been trained in the U.S.. The success rate and medical achievements has also been a great attraction among medical tourists. In 2005, about 3,74,000 tourists chose medical treatment in Singapore, a Bangkok hospital admitted over 1,50,000 foreign patients and about 1,00,000 tourists chose Spain as a doctor.
However, among the many medical tourism destinations, India is on track to become the preferred destination among health tourists. The Indian healthcare industry with employee strength of over four million, is one of the largest service sectors in the economy. The government and private hospitals are working together to achieve the goal of India, the leader in this sector. well-trained physicians and experienced, the state of the art facilities and personalized medicine have helped India to register the fastest growth in this industry. The number of patients seeking treatment in India has risen from 10,000 in 2000 to 100,000 in 2005. If estimates are to be believed, the medical tourism industry in India has the potential to be a 2 billion industry by 2012.
Medical tourism is the best alternative for people who come from countries like the United States, where the health of the whole system is unfair in terms of cost and accessibility. The situation has become so precarious that seems irreparable. However, on the other side of the Pacific, Asian countries have managed to offer a combination of world-class medical services, good care and attention of the system that has become an instant favorite among patients worldwide.
