HealthAbroad.net: Point of View

Germans might be found complaining about their country’s healthcare but foreign patients think otherwise. Numbers from 2001 say that 50,000 foreign patients came to Germany, staying an average of 10 days, spending approximately 250 Euros ($317) per day and generating a total turnover of 125 million Euros.

The bulk of patients end up in German hospitals when they are in the country on holiday or business and fall ill. Still there are others who are fleeing long waiting lists as those in Britain, while some others come from neighbouring countries or places with high healthcare costs- such as the US. In the US, operations are four to five times as expensive as they are in Germany. In Russia, health services are in such a state of disrepair that those with the money to pay for it, come to Germany.

The post-9/11 clampdown on Arabs has turned them away from the US and towards Germany for hi-tech medical treatment. Experts say that upto 10,000 Arab patients are treated in Germany every year, and they often add on a family vacation and shopping trips. 

Business 2.0 magazine says that third-party medical tourism facilitators are raking in the moolah helping Americans go abroad for high quality but cheaper medical treatment. After all, there is little that American consumers wont leave home for if the price is right.   

Americans spend more than $570 billion at US Hospitals annually. Faced with spiralling healthcare costs, individuals and businesses are looking overseas for medical treatment. This year alone, upwards of 500,000 Americans are expected to travel abroad to get their bodies fixed, at prices 30 to 80 percent less than at home. Closer to home, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic have become top destinations. Further away, India, Philippines and Thailand are competing for a piece of the pie. According to David Hancock, author of The Complete Medical Tourist, Americans are expected to help turn global medical tourism into a $40 billion-a-year industry by 2010.

Those who also stand to gain from this phenomenon are not only the hospitals and the patients but also medical tourism agencies. These companies take on the burden of doing the research and finding suitable hospitals, scheduling surgeries, buying airline tickets, reserving hotel rooms and even planning sightseeing tours for the patients, all for a hefty fee. 

These days many top hospitals in tune with medical tourism have created in-house departments responsible for advertising, outreach and securing patients. However, the market being big and varied, many American entrepreneurs are beginning to fill the vaccum by establishing partnerships with foreign hospitals.

According to the article, the top places for surgery are-

Teeth in Hungary- Quality dental care and $35 one-way fares to Budapest have opened up this market to U.K. clients.

Heart in Malaysia- A hot spot for advanced heart care, its doctors open up clogged blood vessels and replace worn valves with robotic assistance.

Nose in Costa Rica- With its abundance of U.S.-trained plastic surgeons, Costa Rica is known as the Beverly Hills of Central America.

Body sculpting in Brazil- The country’s body-sculpting prowess at liposuction and excess skin removal spawned a national magazine on the subject, Plastic & Beauty.

Hips in India- Hospitals here have pioneered hip resurfacing, a less costly alternative to hip replacement.

The Sunday Business Post reports that health tourism is taking off in Ireland in spite of short wait periods, as Irish patients seek treatment unavailable at home at a low cost. A holiday serves as an added incentive.

According to a third-party facilitator in Ireland, cancer therapy, neurosurgery and paedriatic care tend to be the areas with most demand. India, Thailand and Singapore are attractive destinations but closer to home private hospitals in France and eastern Europe are also competing for a cut of the pie. Hungarian and Polish dentists advertise dental work at a third of Western prices. A heart bypass surgery in Belgium costs Euro 10,000 less than in Ireland. Cheaper air travel within Europe has also fueled the growth in medical tourism.

Although figures for the number of Irish going abroad for medical treatment are unavailable, an increase in the number of private agencies offering surgical, dental and cosmetic treatments indicates that medical tourism is a growing trend.

Is employer sponsored medical tourism the next big thing? We recently blogged on how the United Steelworkers, the largest industrial union in North America has come out strongly against the idea. However, recent media coverage including this one on National Public Radio, seems to convey that an increasing number of American companies are mulling the idea of sending their employees abroad for medical treatment.

According to the NPR report, Americans can avail of medical care overseas for about 80 percent less than in the U.S. and get attended to by highly qualified professionals who in most cases have been educated and trained in the US. Or as the head honcho of a third party facilitator puts it, “so its almost as if you’re not going to a foreign country and a foreign doctor, you’re going to see an American doctor overseas.” Several Fortune 500 companies are also looking into the feasibility of this matter.

In the past few months, a few influential business leaders in the US have expressed their reservations about the American healthcare system and the resulting heavy cost burden on businesses. Therefore, it is quite intuitive that companies, big or small, stand to benefit greatly by sending their employees abroad for medical treatment. However this practice is still in its infancy and it remains to be seen if at all it spurs a revamp in the American healthcare system.

One of Singapore’s top hospitals is offering cut price botox injections and health screenings to delegrates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) who are congregating in the city-state for an annual meeting starting September 19.
The hospital has cut costs of botox injections and health screenings by 10% to lure the 16,000 odd delegates, many of them Westerners. Botox injections are going for US$ 100 or British Pound 53 and health screenings for US$ 900 approx or BP 500.
Singapore is well known for cutting edge yet low cost medical treatment. Around 200,000 people come to Singapore for medical services annually.

United Steelworkers (USW), the largest industrial union in North America with 850,000 members, has denounced the practice of American companies sending their employees abroad to avail of cheaper healthcare at foreign destinations. Instead it has called upon the administration to urgently reform the domestic healthcare system.

According to USW, no US citizen should be exposed to risks involved in travelling internationally for health care services. Furthermore, the right to safe, secure and dependable healthcare in one’s own country should not be surrendered for any reason and certainly not to fatten the profit margins of companies and investors.

Off late, American companies have started exploring medical tourism as a means to cut down on runaway healthcare costs in the US. Additional incentive is provided to the employee in the form of a share of the savings from the cheaper medical treatment.

Arabs, wary of going to the US and Europe for vacations and medicare in the post-9/11 world are now making a beeline for Thailand.

The number of Middle Eastern arrivals in Thailand jumped 52 percent over the last five years to 304,047 in 2005, with 80 percent of them coming here for vacation, according to the state-run Tourism Authority of Thailand. A well known Bangkok hospital has seen exponential growth in Arab clients with patients from the UAE, Oman and Qatar making up 20 percent of the hospital’s foreign patients.

For their convenience of their Arab patients and their accompanying party, many hospitals have created prayer rooms on their premises, beam Arabic TV channels into rooms and offer meals prepared according to Islamic dietary rules. Arabic language translators have also been employed to help facilitate medical procedures at every stage.

As a side note, Emirates Airline has announced the launch of 8 flights a week from Bangalore to Dubai starting October 29, with an eye on business travel and the potential of Bangalore as a destination for medical tourism.

In spite of being well known for dentistry, cosmetic and plastic surgery, the absence of a cohesive advertising strategy is hurting Bulgaria’s chances of establishing itself as a medical tourism destonation.

Bulgarian doctors believe that the country has enormous potential for developing medical tourism, with its wealth of well trained doctors and excellent medical centers. Faced with soaring prices, unending waiting lists and reluctant to take a long journey to Asia, many Europeans hav opted for Bulgaria and have not been disappointed with their choice.

However, the Government of Bulgaria has done little to advertise the country as a destination for low cost and high quality medical procedures. In addition, no organization exists to oversee the private clinics and there is no ranking of services.

On the matter of endless waiting lines-

In UK for isnstance, a myoma operation should be planned for as much as three years ahead.

The treatment of sterility in Spain is delayed by an average of five years when it is financed by the country’s health insurance fund.

A US based hospital chain has announced that it will be constructing a world class, state of the art, medical tourism center in Cebu city, in the Philippines. This comes on te back of a recent initiative by Government of Philippines to promote medical tourism in the country. With Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India having stolen a march over Philippines, the country is keen to cash in and not be left too far behind.

The target patients for the new center will be from the US, Europe, Middle East and other Asian countries. Frankly, diverting medical tourist traffic from South East Asia and India will be difficult for Philippines but this is another example of how countries are utiising in-house talent and resources to jump onto the gravy train.

Thailand is well known for all kinds of elective and non-elective surgeries. But here is an good first hand account of getting dental treatment in Thailand. Without dental coverage in the US, the author sagaciously picks Thailand and comes away very impressed by the quality and efficiency of service.

“Not only are the facilities in Thailand first class, prices are cheap when compared to the West. For example, when I had a filling done in southern California at a dinky clinic, it cost me $100 (for less than 10 minutes). In Thailand, the same thing would cost $15-$40. A root canal treatment for a molar would cost over $800 back home. Here, it’s $200-$250.”