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.

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.

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.

Recently, we wrote about Indian hospitals tying up with foreign airlines to reach out to prospective markets. Now comes news that Malaysian Airlines is offering medical tourism packages in supporting the Malaysian Government’s efforts to promote medical tourism in the country.

According to an official authorised to speak on the matter, the package includes a medical check-up, accommodation with daily breakfast and airport transfers for prices ranging from US$300 to US$1,029.

Common sense would say that Indian hospitals should tie up with the the national carrier Air India, in an effort to promote India as a medical destination. But the airline’s poor service record and plummeting reputation inspires little confidence.

The Business Standard says that with an yearly growth rate of 7 per cent worldwide, cosmetic surgery is the new magnet for the increasing medical tourism to India.

Cost effectiveness and good quality care has fueled the boom in India’s medical tourism industry. And with most insurance policies in the West not covering for cosmetic surgery, faced with prohibitve costs at home foreign patients are choosing to come to India. The most common procedures are liposuction, tummy tucks, face lifts and breast augmentation.

A boom in medical tourism has also led to backward integration among the various components such as insurance companies, travel agents and medicare providers. Some Indian hospitals are now also thinking about tying up with foreign airlines to tap into prospective markets.    

Some prominent Indian hospitals are eyeing alliances with foreign airline carriers to reach out to prospective markets. This represents a win-win opportunity for airlines as well who are eager to tap into the Indian market.

The airline-hospital alliance entails special packages for patients, in-flight promotion, complementary health check-up at hospitals for passengers as well as assured seats for the patient. It also gives partners a chance for joint brand-building activities including viral marketing strategies.

Emirates Airlines has already tied up with a few hospitals in Hyderabad and Bangalore while Singapore Airlines and British Airways are exploring their options.