HealthAbroad.net: Point of View

The number of people traveling from Western Europe to Poland for cheaper medical care is likely to rise by 20 percent per year.

Visitors from Western Europe can get some medical treatments in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary for upto 60 percent of the costs in their own countries. The proliferation of low cost airlines has given an additional impetus to this trend.

Tourists from Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway and England are coming in droves to Croatia’s glittering coast for its pristine beaches and natural beauty but also for dental surgery. Good dental surgeons, competitive prices and better transport links have led to this growth.

While a porcelain tooth crown costs about 500-600 pounds (730-800 euros) in Britain, the same is being offered for 200 euros in Croatia. Breast implants cost around 3000 euros in Croatia while in Italy they cost between 6,000 and 8,000 euros.

The country’s tourist officials have also recognized the immense potential of health tourism, especially during July-August peak travel season “when most of the eight million annual tourists - nearly twice Croatia’s population - visit.”

While dental surgery is highly popular, patients are also coming in for “rhinoplasty or nose jobs, liposuction, breast implants, and a growing number of men seeking face-lifts.”

Croatia is one of the many former eastern European countries which have become the hub for cut price dental surgery. However, there are no official figures on the number of foreigners coming to Croatia for dental services.   

A report published by Doctors for Reform which says that more patients will have to pay a “top up” fees for private care because of budget cuts in the NHS and long waiting time, says BBC online. In essence, if you wish to step out of the que and get half decent service, cough up or keep standing.

The report goes onto say that the idea of a completely free service is a mirage and sets out three key questions

It asks whether the NHS can guarantee a universal service in future, whether doctors inform patients of ‘top-up’ options as part of their general duty of care and how can access to healthcare be made fairer.

With the National Health Service (NHS) in the doldrums, Brits are going abroad in large numbers for medical treatment. New figures put out by a research firm say that overseas trips for cosmetic surgery, operations and post-op relaxation are worth 60 million pounds per year. Furthermore, medical tourism enjoys the largest cut of UK spending on health breaks.

In addition, British holidaymakers splashed out around pounds 25 million last year on going abroad for yoga holidays, holistic healing, health farms beauty treatments and spa visits.

Spending rose to pounds 50 million for similar types of breaks taken within the UK.

According to the report, the entire market for health and wellness holidays, including overseas medical tourism, is set to increase as much as 150% by 2011. Up, up and awwaaaay!!

Nice article in the International Herald Tribune on the mushrooming of low cost and discount airlines across Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. 

Air travel by being made afforadable and accessible has facilitated the movement of people, ideas and money - all pre-requisites for better business and price competitiveness. It has also forced state run and heaviy subsidized airlines to shake off their complacency, compete and offer better services to their customers or perish. Mediocrity has no takers beyond a point.

So where does medical tourism come in? The article starts off with the story of an American author who was in India last year to research for his book on medical tourism and came away with a favourable impression of the low cost airline(s) he used to crisscross the country.  

The airlines industry and medical tourism are inextricably linked. The former moves people - now at much lower costs to consumer than before, from which the latter benefits greatly. It would perhaps be a bit of a stretch to say that the low-cost airlines have spawned the medical tourism industry but they have helped in its growth in no small measure. Read our previous posts about this relationship here.

Already faced with an increasing number of patients flying abroad for medical treatment, the NHS now has a new problem. Even the nurses are leaving!!

The lack of support staff and finances is forcing many nurses from the UK to make a beeline for Australia. In the UK, one nurse is in-charge of 12-15 patients while in Australia the five patients to one nurse is strictly adhered to.

According to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) 3,200 nurses of the 8,000 registering to work abroad want to work Down Under.

and more,

a leaked NHS report in January predicted a long term shortage of nurses with a shortfall of 14,000 expected in three years time.

A great article on how cheap airfares on low cost European airlines are encouraging people to criss cross the continent not only for cheap bachelor parties but also for cheaper medicare.  

Fares as low as 1 euro cent, or $0.013, plus tax, encourage workers to jump borders for jobs, pump up real estate prices in France and — to the horror of residents of towns newly served by the carriers — spur British bachelors to shop for cheap beer and strippers in Prague and Riga, Latvia.

No-frills airlines also let Europeans seek cut-rate health care in Malta, Poland and Spain.

An implant and crown that costs 2,500 Euros in the UK, costs 1,400 Euros in Poland. Southern Spain is also popular for British patients on the look out for cheaper plastic surgery and time on the beach.

The Czech Republic is becoming a popular destination for women seeking assisted reproduction through In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). The country’s 23 IVF centers offer services remarkably cheaper than in Western Europe, but also high-quality treatment with a high success rate.

Easy access to sperm and egg donation is also an attraction for a growing number of childless couples from Germany, Austria, Italy and the United Kingdom. The 37.8 percent success rate for assisted reproduction in the Czech Republic is about the same as the United States, but it is much better than in other European countries. In Germany, it is only 27 percent and Germans are the biggest foreign group seeking assisted reproduction in the Czech Republic.

IVF treatment in the Czech Republic is also much cheaper than in other European countries and the US. IVF attempts are usually conducted in 10-day cycles, and the price for one cycle (including medication) is $2,400-2,850, while in London it’s $7,000 per cycle and in Italy about $8,500. In the United States, one cycle can cost as much as $18,500.

First the candy. According to a latest industry report, India’s medical tourism industry has been growing at the rate of 30 percent compounded. Some 150,000 patients from the West, African and South Asian countries visited India for medical treatment in 2006.

Now the kick. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, India’s competitors for the crown of top medical destination, combined attract ten times the medical tourist traffic that comes to India.

The cost of treatment in India is about a tenth and a fifth of those available in the UK and US. The country also has an edge in terms of very low waiting periods and an army of Western trained highly qualified medical professionals. However, South East Asian countries continue to score over India due to tourist-friendly infrastructure and a glitzier image which has been cultivated and sustained over a period of time.

It’s time for India to get a move on.  

A shortage of egg donors at home is making British couples travel abroad for fertility treatment.

Spain, with its top level health-care, better success rates than clinics in the UK and being only a short cheap flight away has stepped into the breach and emerged as a popular destination for IVF tourism.

British women who have signed up to receive treatment in the UK have been confronted with long waiting periods, often cited as the reason for the flight of British patients to other low-cost destinations across the world.

No stats are available for the number of British couples and women going abroad for IVF treatment.