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Medical tourism set to become $40b-a-year

global industry by 2010

Medical tourism traveling  to another country for urgent or elective medical procedures, such as cosmetics plastics surgery, is growing business. It is expected to became a $40 billion-a-year global industry by 2010.One definition medical tourism is the provision “coast-effective” and affordable  medical care in collaboration with rims industry for patients needing surgical procedures or other forms of specialized treatment. The process of health care tourism is jointly facilitated by the corporate sector (involved in medical and health care) as well as the tourism industry (both private and public) In a nutshell, medical tourism mixes leisure, fun and relaxation together with wellness and health care.

Medical tourists from all over the world - United States, United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Japan - are visiting Asia for medical tourism. Countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines are attracting a large number of medical tourists every year. Research into the Asian economy shows that a medical tourist spends an average of US$362 per day compared with the average tourist's expenditure of US$144 per day. Today, countries that actively promote medical tourism include Cuba, Costa Rica, Hungary, India, Israel, Jordan, Lithuania, Belgium, Poland, Malaysia; Thailand and Singapore.

The Philippines is no exception. It has started the Philippines Medical Tourism, a private-public initiative aimed at attracting international patients to the Philippines for medical care and tourism. It is incorporating medical care into attractive holiday packages, offered to medical tourists from the Middle East and Eastern European countries.

 South Korea is on the threshold of being the world's capital for plastic surgery. Based on a report in The Korea Herald, one particular clinic in Seoul for skincare and plastic surgery had treated about 10,000 foreigners over the past year, most­ly Japanese and Chinese. To market Korean medical care, the Government and hospitals have taken steps to ease visa restrictions in order to attract foreign patients. Even South Africa is promoting medical safaris, which means you can visit the country for a safari, with a stopover for plastic surgery (example, nose job) and a chance to see lions and elephants

Many Americans travel for medical purpose because they cant afford quality elective surgical procedures in the united states. And they are put off by the long waiting time.        This year alone, more than 50000 Americans will be lured to distant overseas destinations by promises of quality surgical care for as little as one-tenth of the cost of the same procedure in the United States. And this price includes round-trip airfare and recovery vacation with elective or plastic surgery. Patients from Great Britain cant wait for treatment by the National Health Service (NFS) and neither can they afford to see a physician practice.

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