Asia/Pacific land of Medical tourism 2

India

India is known in particular for heart surgery, hip resurfacing and other areas of advanced medicine. The government and private hospital groups are committed to the goal of making India a leader in the industry. The industry's main appeal is low-cost treatment. Most estimates claim treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain. India is becoming the destination of choice for US citizens seeking complicated, high-end medical procedures.

Estimates of the value of medical tourism to India go as high as $2 billion a year by 2012. The Indian government is taking steps to address infrastructure issues that hinder the country's growth in medical tourism.

The south Indian city of Chennai has been declared India's Health Capital, as it nets in 45% of health tourists from abroad and 30-40% of domestic health tourists.

Dental care has also caught on in India, with tourists coupling stays in cities like Udaipur with general check-ups and complex procedures.

Asia/Pacific land of Medical tourism 1

Hong Kong

Hong Kong has 12 private hospitals and more than 50 public hospitals. A wide range of health care services are offered. All 12 of Hong Kong's private hospitals have been surveyed and accredited by the UK's Trent Accreditation Scheme since early 2001This has been a major factor in the ascent of standards in Hong Kong's private hospitals. The Trent scheme works closely with the hospitals it assesses to generate standards appropriate to the locality (with respect to culture, geography, public health, primary care interfaces etc.), and always uses combinations of UK-sourced and Hong Kong-sourced surveyors. Some of Hong Kong's private hospitals have now gone on to obtain dual international accreditation, with both Trent and JCI (and have therefore attained a standard surpassing some of the best hospitals in Thailand and Singapore). Others are looking towards dual international accreditation with Trent and the Australian group. Hong Kong public hospitals have yet to commit to external accreditation.

Knee replacement surgery

In October, our staff had the opportunity to interview one of our international patients from Bahrain, Mrs.Badriya Talib Ali Mohd, 57 years old, which came to Vibhavadi Hospital for the knee replacement surgery. Below is the content of the interview before Mrs. Badriya’s departure

: Please tell me what you feel or the symptoms before coming for treatment at Vibhavadi Hospital.

Mrs.Badriya: I have a terrible pain of my both knees for 6 months and my doctor advised me to have the knee replacement as treatment.

: You told us that you contacted other hospital in Bangkok but why did you choose Vibhavadi Hospital.

Mrs.Badriya: Vibhavadi Hospital (International Coordinator) response to my needs very quick and the costs of treatment is reasonable.

: What is your reaction when the doctor in Bahrain told you to have the knee replacement, Are you afraid?

Mrs.Badriya: No, what I want only is the pain will go away.

: When did you arrive to the hospital and when did the surgery happen?

Mrs.Badriya: We arrived to the hospital on October 8, 2007. On October 9 pre – operative procedure was performed followed by surgery the following day, October 10, 2007

: How do you feel after the surgery?

Mrs.Badriya: The pain is still there but not much.

: How was the hospital’s service and facilities?

Mrs.Badriya: It’s good; everybody was helpful and always smiling.

: What do you want to tell to those who have problem like you?

Mrs.Badriya: I want to tell to those having knee problem that don’t be afraid to have the surgery because at Vibhavadi Hospital there is Dr. Werayudth who is professional and kind to his patient.

Sponsored health care by Employer

Sponsored health care by Employer

A few US employers have started offering incentives in their employee benefit packages such as paying for air travel and waiving out-of-pocket expenses for care outside of the US. For example, in January 2008, Hannaford Bros., a supermarket chain based in Maine, began paying the entire medical bill for employees to travel to Singapore for hip and knee replacements, including travel for the patient and companion. Other employers have been less public about their benefit changes.

Medical travel packages can integrate with all types of health insurance, including limited benefit plans, preferred provider organizations and high deductible health plans. Insurers are beginning to establish partnerships with overseas health providers to treat their insureds. The article cites a BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina representative who had a colonoscopy at Bumrungrad International Medical Center in Bangkok.

According to a recent case study interview in The Health Care Globalization Report, a major employee benefits management company, Plan Benefit Services, accompanied a group of employers to Bangkok and Singapore to visit facilities. This is seen as significant since up to this point, most visitors to foreign hospitals were patients, health plans and medical travel companies. According to the report, the employers attending were very close to making benefit changes that would incentivize employees to seek care overseas.

Medical tourism growing worldwide

Medical tourism growing worldwide

11:34 a.m., July 25, 2005--Falling ill while abroad seems like the worst sort of traveling nightmare. Yet, for growing numbers of travelers, the lure of combining affordable medical care with attentive room service is a chief draw for packing a suitcase and boarding a plane.

Here, UDaily previews excerpts from an article by Frederick J. DeMicco, ARAMARK Chair in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management and department chairperson, and Marvin Cetron, founder and president of Forecasting International, on the growing trend of medical tourism. In Q&A format, both experts share abridged portions of their views from an article soon to be published in the FIU (Florida International University) Hospitality Review.

DeMicco and Cetron, along with Owen Davies, a consultant for Forecasting International, also have coauthored a recently published book on tourism trends titled, Hospitality 2010: The Future of Hospitality and Travel.

Medical tourists have good cause to seek out care beyond the United States for many reasons. In some regions of the world, state-of-the-art medical facilities are hard to come by, if they exist at all; in other countries, the public health-care system is so overburdened that it can take years to get needed care. In Britain and Canada, for instance, the waiting period for a hip replacement can be a year or more, while in Bangkok or Bangalore, a patient can be in the operating room the morning after getting off a plane.

For many medical tourists, though, the real attraction is price. The cost of surgery in India, Thailand 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 $200,000 or more in the U.S., for example, goes for $10,000 in India--and that includes round-trip airfare and a brief vacation package. Similarly, a metal-free dental bridge worth $5,500 in the U.S. costs $500 in India, 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 $3,700 in the U.S. is available in many other countries for only $730. Cosmetic surgery savings are even greater: A full facelift that would cost $20,000 in the U.S. runs about $1,250 in South Africa.

Article by Becca Hutchinson