| Medical tourism is a term that has risen from the rapid growth of the industry where people from all around the world
are traveling to other countries to obtain medical, dental, and surgical care while at the same time touring, vacationing, and fully experiencing the attractions of the countries that they are visiting. A combination of
many factors has lead to the recent increase in popularity of medical tourism - exorbitant costs of healthcare in industrialized nations, ease and affordability of international travel,
favorable currency exchange rates in the global economy, rapidly 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 rise of medical tourism. More and more people are traveling abroad as an affordable,
enjoyable, and safe alternative to having medical, dental, and surgical procedures done in their
home countries.
Medical tourists are
generally residents of the industrialized nations of the world and primarily come from The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Western Europe, Australia, and The Middle East. But more and more, people from many other countries of the world are
seeking out places where they can combine vacationing and obtaining their medical care at an affordable cost.
Currently medical tourists are traveling in large numbers to India, the East Indies, and South
America - three places where the quality of healthcare is equal to anywhere
else in the world and yet the cost is significantly lower. These regions also offer numerous options for touring, sight-seeing,
shopping, exploring, and yes, even lounging on sun drenched beaches. Although India, the
East Indies, and South
America are currently the most popular choices for medical tourists, the industry is growing so rapidly that more and more countries and medical centers around the world are
beginning to tailor services aimed specifically at medical tourists, and the expectation is that the options for where medical tourists can choose to
travel will continue to increase at a rapid pace.
Myriad options exist for medical tourists - from purely elective procedures such as rhinoplasty, liposuction, breast augmentation, orthodontics, and LASIK, to more serious and life-saving procedures
such as joint
replacements, bone marrow transplants, and cardiac bypass surgery - medical tourists can now obtain
essentially any type of medical or surgical procedure abroad in a safe and effective manner for a fraction of the cost that they
would face in their home countries.
The cost savings are enormous. For example, for the same price as a week long vacation for two in Hawaii that includes airfare and boarding & lodging, a couple can travel to the natural and lush beauty of
Kerala on India's southeast coast to include
airfare, boarding & lodging, personal tour guide/concierge, and LASIK corrective
surgery for two. The average cost of private heart surgery in the
United States is $50,000. That same operation with comparable rates of
success and complications costs only $10,000 in the finest and most state-of-the-art hospital in Bombay. A bone marrow transplant that
costs $250,000 in the U.S. costs only $25,000 in India. Large price disparities such as
these exist across the board for numerous medical and surgical procedures. And because of favorable currency exchange rates for
medical tourists, the
costs associated with accommodations, food, shopping, and sight-seeing are similarly very favorable.
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