Medical tourism is traveling abroad to receive medical care. The main goal for patients is access to modern methods of diagnostics, therapy, surgery and rehabilitation.
According to researchers, the idea of traveling for recovery arose more than 5 millennia ago. Back then, the wealthiest people traveled to other countries to recover at healing springs. Nowadays, traveling for treatment is no longer uncommon. More than 14 million people travel annually to receive medical services, according to the Medical Tourism Association.
Reasons why it is advantageous for a patient to be treated outside his or her home country
- It is possible to receive quality medical services in a specialized clinic or department. Even for the treatment of rare and complex diseases abroad it is possible to find a specialized institution.
- Correlation of price and quality of medical services. Patients from Europe and the USA often give preference to clinics in Turkey and South Korea due to more affordable cost of treatment. At the same time, some hospitals in these countries are among the TOP-50 best clinics in the world.
- Innovative treatments are available at university hospitals. For example, some hospitals in Germany and Turkey use the latest medical developments for cancer treatment. This is an advantage of medical centers that operate on the basis of scientific institutes.
Types of medical tourism
Specialists of the World Tourism Organization divide international medical tourism into 4 main groups:
- diagnosis;
- treatment;
- rehabilitation;
- prevention.
1. Diagnosis
The majority of patients go abroad precisely for the diagnosis of the disease. This way they can get it more qualitatively and accurately or faster than at home. For example, the method of cancer diagnostics – Positron emission tomography – is available in almost all clinics in Israel, Germany or Turkey, so the patient can undergo the examination immediately upon arrival. To get to the diagnosis in the CIS countries you need to sign up in a queue, as there are few machines. Sometimes the waiting time can take up to 3-4 weeks.
2. Treatment
Patients choose to receive treatment abroad for medical conditions such as:
- Oncology and oncohematology;
- cardiovascular surgery;
- neurology and neurosurgery;
- orthopedic surgery;
- infertility treatment;
- aesthetic procedures and plastic surgeries;
- dentistry.
Patients choose another country to get access to new techniques and better quality drugs. In some cases, price is the determining criterion. Even with the additional costs of travel and accommodation in another country, a patient can save 30% to 80%.
3. Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation centers abroad use traditional methods of recovery and experimental techniques. Patients are provided with comfortable conditions of stay and a psychological atmosphere that contributes to a speedy recovery. It is precisely because of the high quality of medical service and individual approach that patients choose rehabilitation abroad.
4. Prevention
Over the past few years, patients have increasingly traveled abroad to undergo check-up examinations. This is a complex diagnostics of the organism, which allows detecting a predisposition to a disease or the disease itself at the earliest stages. After that, a person can keep healthy just by changing his or her lifestyle and diet, or by undergoing preventive treatment.
Preventive diagnostics programs in European countries appeared earlier than in the CIS. European doctors have more experience in such check-ups and use medical equipment of higher quality. A patient can undergo a check-up abroad in just 1 day.
Regulation and standards in medical tourism
Each country has developed rules of entry, stay and pricing for medical tourists, requirements for the quality of service and services in clinics. For example, a German hospital can accept citizens of other countries for treatment only if it passes a number of inspections and receives a certificate from the German Ministry of Health.
Large clinics, which are aimed at accepting patients from abroad, undergo inspections and receive accreditation from European or international independent organizations. The most authoritative is JCI (Joint Commission International). It checks clinics on 1,400 different criteria, including staff qualification, safety, level of service, availability of new methods. A clinic must confirm its JCI accreditation every 3 years.
Other international organizations that develop standards for health services:
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO);
- Medical Travel Quality Alliance (MTQUA);
- European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).
In addition, clinics receive quality certificates in certain medical fields, such as accreditation by the Organization of European Cancer Institutes (OECI) or the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
Risks to the patients
Experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight such risks associated with medical tourism abroad:
- Language barrier.
If a patient cannot communicate fluently with the doctor and other medical staff, misunderstandings and difficulties may arise during procedures. To address this issue, many clinics provide interpreter services for their patients.
- Transportation of the patient before and after treatment.
It can be difficult for a person in a serious condition to endure a flight or a long journey for treatment. In addition, traveling immediately after surgery can lead to complications.
- Problems with follow-up consultations.
If patients experience side effects after returning home, it may be difficult for them to return to the clinic where they were treated. At the same time, medical care at home may not be of sufficient quality.
- Customs formalities.
There are no uniform international rules for medical tourists. Each country develops its own norms and laws for entry and exit of foreign patients. Because of this, it is difficult to travel urgently for treatment in some countries. For example, a trip to Germany for treatment should be planned 2 weeks in advance. Some countries, such as South Korea, require a whole package of documents.
- Difficulties in choosing a clinic and unscrupulous intermediaries.
It can be difficult for a person far from medicine to choose the right clinic for treatment abroad or to assess the fairness of prices for medical services provided by intermediaries in medical tourism.
Medical tourism in the world: why it is growing
According to research, the medical tourism market in 2019 amounted to $44.8 billion. This means that such an amount was spent by patients who went abroad for treatment. Specialists of the World Health Organization believe that 4 main factors contributed to this.
- Awareness
Thanks to the development of information technology, the patient can independently obtain information about new methods, medical protocols and technologies available abroad. He can find the necessary medical centers, check the information, get access to reviews and experiences of other patients who have already undergone treatment.
- Accessibility
Patients travel to another country to access drugs, techniques and equipment that are not available in clinics at home. For example, in 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new treatment for certain types of lymphoma, CAR-T gene therapy. It became available in Europe in 2018. To date, the therapy is available in fewer than 10 clinics worldwide.
- Cost
According to research, more and more countries are evaluating the financial benefits of medical tourism development. Therefore, they strive to create a unique quality offer for patients with different income levels. For example, some clinics in Turkey have developed special packages for patients who want to undergo hair transplantation. The package offer includes airport transfer, hotel accommodation with breakfasts, all medical services and procedures, excursion. The patient can choose the set of services that suits him/her best.
- Quality
Experts emphasize two main components of quality in medical tourism – quality of equipment and services. Top foreign hospitals are working on improving both indicators. Thus, many hospitals update equipment for diagnostics and operations every 2-3 years. At the same time, they purchase new and improved modifications of equipment.
Quality of services is the attitude of medical personnel to the patient, qualification of doctors, comfort level of rooms. To improve these indicators, clinics exchange experience and receive accreditation from international organizations.
