Medical tourism is on the pick of its development. According to the Patients Beyond Borders data, approximately 20-24 million people travel overseas to get medical help. On average, each of them waste about $3,400 per one visit.
Among the most popular specialties why people go abroad are:
- Plastic surgery
- Dentistry
- Cardiovascular surgery
- Orthopedics
- Oncology
- Reproductive medicine
- Weight loss
- Check-ups/second opinion.
There are 3 main reasons why patient travel abroad for medical assistance — lower prices, accessibility of latest technologies and treatments, absence of queues. So, according to the analysis of Patients Beyond Borders and International Medical Travel Journal, we have composed a ranting of top destinations for medical tourism considering their pros and cons.
Thailand
About 2 mln foreigners go Thailand to receive medical help every year. They choose this country due to affordable prices (20-40% lower than in the USA, Canada, or some European countries), experienced doctors, and modern medical centers (for instance, Bumrungrad International Hospital is one of the most advanced in the world). The greatest number of medical centers are located in Bangkok. Some of them are accredited by JCI that confirms the high quality of medical care.
Thailand attracts patient who want to have medical services in plastic surgery (the most popular specialty), dentistry, check-ups, orthopedics, oncology, etc.
One more advantage of this country is its exotic nature and picturesque views, so the tourists, who do not have some advanced treatment or operations, can combine the medical procedures with vacation.
India
India is among countries with one of the cheapest healthcares. Despite the low prices, the quality of medical assistance remains at the high level. The main patient stream goes from the neighboring countries will less developed medicine — Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc. However, a number of medical tourists from the USA, Canada, Europe also grows mostly because of Indian affordability.
Patients go here to have plastic surgery, and also with fertility, orthopedic, and oncological medical issues. India is also one of the leading destinations for organ transplant (liver, kidney, pancreas).
Mexico
One more top destination for medical tourism is Mexico. If above-mentioned countries attract foreigners with multi-specialized treatment, Mexico is one of the leading countries to have plastic surgery mostly among patients from the USA and Canada. And a number of esthetic procedures performed there is about 1,000,000 every year!
The deal is that esthetic procedures are not covered by insurance, and can significantly flatten the wallet. The same procedures in Mexico cost 1.5-3 times lower than in the USA or Canada, so patients even with travel expenses save much money.
Turkey
 Turkey has all chances to become a medical tourism leader. For the last 10 years, the Turkish government has invested a lot to develop medicine making it affordable but competitive. Hundreds of hospitals have been renovated, the emmawatson-fans.com installed, doctors trained overseas. Nowadays, Turkish healthcare is reaching the level of such countries as the USA, Germany, Israel, etc.
Turkey is visited by international patients from over the world. The reasons are affordable medical care (2-5 times lower than in above-mentioned countries) and high standards of treatment. The most demanded specialties in Turkey are plastic surgery, neurosurgery, oncology, gastroenterology, etc. Just click for more info to see the list of medical centers and choose the best clinic in Turkey.
Germany
220,000+ international patients choose Germany for the treatment every year. In most of the cases, people go to this country to treat severe diseases: all types of cancer; cardiac, orthopedic, neurological, neurosurgical disorders; obesity treatment.
The cost of therapy in Germany is not considered as low. However, it is still more affordable than in the USA, Canada or some European countries as Switzerland, for instance.
The prices for all medical services in Germany are regulated at the state level. They can change depending on the doctor’s experience and complexity of operation.
South Korea
South Korea is often called a world’s capital of plastic surgery — 1,000,000 cosmetic surgeries are carried out annually. Such procedures are so common in the country that people present them to each other as gifts for birthday, for instance. So, local doctors have advanced expertise in this field.
Except plastic surgery, international patients visit South Korea to cope with a wide range of health disorders — from simple operations and check-ups to the treatment of advanced cancer.
Summary
Medical tourism continues blurring the boundaries and opens endless possibilities to have affordable but qualitative healthcare. A patient does not need to wait in queues for receiving treatment of waste much money for the procedure that is much cheaper in the neighboring country.
The tendency for medical tourism allows saving money, starting treatment immediately and having access to the latest therapeutic developments.
