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Medical Travel and Tourism
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World Medical Tourism - Your Guide to a Network of Health and Wellness Providers :: World Medical Tourism
Forerunners Medical Travel and Tourism
Forerunners Medical Travel and Tourism a leading name in the medical tourism India. They will make all the arrangements and will provide the patients with best outcomes.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Yoga Practice after Surgery: Know the Facts!
Yoga
comes from the Sanskrit Word “Yuj” which means the union of an individual and
the universal consciousness. Often when we hear or read yoga we visualize an
image of twisting in apparently painful positions. Although postures or asanas
are significant part of the teachings of yoga they are not all to the yoga.
Yoga
has different schools of philosophy including Hatha Yoga that comprises of the
asanas. It promotes both physical and mental well-being through medium of
postures. It provides an individual with the physical fitness; other yoga types
empower us with devotion, wisdom, etc. During ancient times it was taught to
students in Gurukul after they pass a rigorous test.
Nowadays,
yoga is being associated with only the physical postures wherein the vital teachings
of yoga are maintaining a unanimous state of mind. As per Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of the
Hindus, “Yoga is skill in action and expression”.
Let
us try to unravel the mysteries about yoga as the world is gearing up to
celebrate the first ever International Day of Yoga.
World Yoga Day:
Over
the past few decades, yoga had gone through complete transformation for once it
was frowned upon but now accepted as one of the best natural therapies. The
benefits of yoga have been noticed in the international community as well. Yoga
is not simply an exercise but it is how skillfully we act and communicate in a
given situation. Hence it is described as a mind skill and the ability to remain
centered even in adverse situations. The postures contribute to healthy body
and meditation or pranayama gives you healthy mind. Hence yoga contributes to uniting the diverse
aspects of life.
The
United Nations has passed a resolution by declaring June 21st as the
International Yoga Day on December 11, 2014. Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi in his speech suggested 21st June to be celebrated as World
Yoga Day because as per the Hindu Mythology, the first transmission of yoga
began on this day. The first transmission was performed by Lord Shiva, the
first Guru.
Yoga after Surgery: Is it Safe?
Yoga
after surgery can be dangerous, so it is advised to go ahead with yoga after
consulting your doctor. Yoga may cause excessive physical strain on your body
and so you should wait for few weeks after surgery and then resume yoga. However,
you can move ahead with meditation poses of yoga without much harm. It is
suggested to avoid straining your body with excessive physical routine so that
you avoid fatal injury. Check with your yoga instructor regarding safe asanas
you can perform post surgery.
Practicing
yoga involves physical and mental activities that train both your mind and body
effectively. Surgery comprises of the infliction of a physical wound for
accessing some internal organs of your body that requires treatment or removal
of abnormal cells or repairs the damages.
Performing
yoga after surgery will entirely depend on the type of surgery that has been
performed. For example, if the surgery has been performed on one of the lower
limbs, then you can practice all the seated yoga poses. This will help work out
for your upper body part. If you had undergone surgery for abdomen or chest,
then there is little yoga you can do for a period of weeks until your surgical
wound has healed completely.
Therefore,
it is important to consult your doctor to figure out which part of your body
can be exercised. Some people will be restricted to breathing exercises or
basic poses during recovery period of surgery. You should strictly avoid
extreme poses of yoga post surgery else could end up damaging your surgical
wound. Eventually, this would lengthen your recovery period.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Yoga after Surgery:
- Advantages of yoga after surgery can be seen in patients who have undergone procedures like hemorrhoidectomy or a tummy tuck.
- Y Yoga involving Vinayasa and Ashtanga greatly helps to improve your blood circulation which reduces the risk of blood clots after surgery. While performing the Vinayasa poses you should avoid exerting pressure on the operated area of your body.
- Breathing techniques practiced in pranayama are quite helpful to lightly engage the abdominal muscles for improving the blood circulation. This will eventually help to reduce the swelling after surgery.
- Advantages of yoga post surgery can be seen in case of a hemorrhoidectomy by regularly performing breathing exercises. One of the breathing exercises Mool Bandh involves squeezing your anal muscles. Patients practicing this technique usually recover sooner.
- Patients are advised to practice yoga after surgery under the guidance of a trained professional.
- The only disadvantage of performing other yoga post surgery includes not able to practice some strenuous forms of yoga.
- Patients can find difficulty in performing the fast breathing techniques or Bikram yoga especially if they have gone through the abdominal surgeries. This can cause unnecessary strain ion the operated area and in worst case cause post surgery complications.
References:
® Mikel
Burley, Haṭha-Yoga: Its Context, Theory, and Practice, Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass Publ., (Jan 1, 2000)
Monday, June 15, 2015
Separate Department for Medical Tourism Soon as Patients Flock to Desi Hospitals
Similarly, 45 per cent of Afghanis and 45 per cent of Nigerians came here for similar reasons. Between 2009 and 2013, the number of foreign tourists coming to India for medical purposes doubled.
Encouraged by the response of foreign tourists visiting India for world-class medical treatment available here at much lower rates, the Indian government is setting up a separate body for medical tourism.
“We will soon be setting up a separate department in the ministry to act as coordinating office to provide help to the medical tourists visiting the country. It would include ministry officials and stakeholders like those from hospitals, hospitality industry, tour operators,” Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma told Express.
He said the announcement in this regard would be made in the next few days.
“India is an affordable destination for people looking for best medical facilities at 1/8th cost of that available in some advanced countries. Even in countries like the US and the UK, Indian doctors are considered the best,” Sharma said.
A Lok Sabha MP from Gautam Budh Nagar, Sharma himself is a trained medical doctor and chairman of Kailash Health Care, which runs a chain of super-and multi-speciality hospitals.
The celebration of International Yoga Day has brought the focus on Indian system of medicine, particularly the alternative stream, which includes Ayurveda and holistic wellness. Sharma says the Ministry of AYUSH and Health, too, will join in the new initiative planned by his ministry.
Globally, medical value travel is a $10.5 billion industry estimated to grow to $32.5 billion over the next five years at compound annual growth rate of 17.9 per cent. India certainly wants a lion’s share of this pie.
However, it faces stiff competition from better organised rivals. “Countries like the US, Turkey, Japan and smaller ones like Jordan, Croatia, Costa Rica and Malaysia are extremely organised in promoting themselves for medical travel,” says a recently released report by global consultancy firm KPMG.
However, in contrast, India is fragmented in its approach as only individual hospitals have been promoting themselves as medical tourism destinations,” the report stated.
In 2012, India received 1.7 lakh foreign tourists, who came here for medical treatment, while Thailand received 25.30 lakh medical tourists, thus indicating what a better-planned approach can do. Popular medical tourism destinations in India are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, New Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
In a recent statement, Sharma said that the wellness industry was growing by 30 per cent in India.
Reference - www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Separate-Department-for-Medical-Tourism-Soon-as-Patients-Flock-to-Desi-Hospitals/2015/06/15/article2866823.ece
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Best Cosmetic Surgery 2015 With ForeRunners Healthcare India
ForeRunners Healthcare Cosmetic Surgery Success Rate
The success rate of patients undergoing cosmetic surgery through ForeRunners Healthcare is very high. Mostly the success rate for cosmetic surgery depends on factors such as the overall health of the patient, the previous conditions, the type of procedure to be performed as well as the experience of the surgeon.
Patients involving with ForeRunners Healthcare - Statistics
The popularity for cosmetic surgery can be estimated by the statistics that shows there has been a significant increase of 175% in the total number of surgeries conducted from 2010 to 2015. Every year, millions of American individuals undergo cosmetic plastic surgery and it is estimated that about 58% men and 73% women are more affirmative about cosmetic surgery with ForeRunners healthcare.
The patients who had done cosmetic facial surgery in India have positive experience with ForeRunners Healthcare group as it offers affordable packages for cosmetic facial surgery. Patients were convinced with the quality, facilities and cost offered by hospitals in India.
Why to choose ForeRunners Healthcare India:
The top reasons why you should choose ForeRunners Healthcare India for cosmetic surgery is due to the excellent facilities for the surgery at the reasonable costs.
1. Cost Comparisons All over the globe for Cosmetic Surgery
The United States of America tops in-demand for cosmetic surgeries. However, the costs required to undergo these surgeries ranges from 40,000 USD to 80,000 USD. On the other hand, India offers cosmetic surgeries at lesser price ranging 15,000 USD to 18000 USD.
The United States of America tops in-demand for cosmetic surgeries. However, the costs required to undergo these surgeries ranges from 40,000 USD to 80,000 USD. On the other hand, India offers cosmetic surgeries at lesser price ranging 15,000 USD to 18000 USD.
Hence, the international medical tourist traveling to India for undergoing cosmetic surgery are assured that they get excellent treatments at reasonable prices compared to the first class world countries.
2. Facilities Provided for Cosmetic Surgery
ForeRunners Healthcare India assures that international medical tourists get excellent results with cosmetic surgery. The availability of highly skilled local doctors, highly developed healthcare facilities designed to accommodate international visitors make your medical tour a memorable one.
About ForeRunners Healthcare India:
ForeRunners Healthcare India offers the best medical treatment at reasonable price. As India has become the lucrative destination for people waiting to undergo treatments, this place offers world class medical facilities at competitive charges for treatment. For more information, visit: www.forerunnershealthcare.com
Contact:
To learn more about ForeRunners Healthcare India, please contact:
ForeRunners Healthcare Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
Email: enquiry@forerunnershealthcare.com
Friday, May 29, 2015
INDIA: New Tourism Policy Will Include Medical Tourism Promotion Board
India is about to launch the first national tourism policy for 14 years. The new policy aims to set up an independent National Tourism Authority to clearly separate policy making from execution of policy decisions.
The draft policy is ready. The government is just waiting for comments from the tourism industry before finalising it in June.
The new policy is very ambitious. Rather than just a concept, it will detail how it will be implemented. There is an action plan with clear timelines and allocation as to who will execute the work.
The executing functions will be moved to a National Tourism Authority (NTA) to be set up. The NTA will have representations from the government and also from the private sector. In India, the biggest bottleneck of having a tourist body within any ministry is the numerous political hurdles that make any decision making process very laborious. The ministry of tourism admits that other departments, rivals and outside bodies mean it is unnecessarily hamstrung.
The National Tourism Authority will have representatives from the various stakeholders so it should truly reflect the aspirations of the trade and industry. It will have an ease and flexibility of doing things without being bogged down by the labyrinthine politics of India.
The policy aims to cash in on the global tourism boom and increase India’s share in world tourist arrivals from the present 0.68% to 1% by 2020 and then take it to 2% by 2025.
What makes the new policy different from the last one is the increased number of tourism products being offered, and a roadmap to achieve that. It calls for taking the marketing of tourism away from state control to independent national control, with funds from the national government
Among the plans -
• A new body to promote yoga
• A new body to promote Ayurveda
• An international yoga day every year
• A tourism university
• Promotion of wellness tourism
• Promotion of medical tourism
• Targeting the global Indian diaspora
• Setting up a national tourism advisory board
• Special Tourism Zones on the lines of SEZs
• Free Wi-Fi connectivity at tourist centres in India
The NTA will create a Medical Tourism Promotion Board to create synergy between tourism and the health care sector. The board will work with the industry to action out a clear game plan to work upon. The board will have representations from the ministry of healthcare, the medical industry including hospitals, Indian medicine as well as from tour operators who deal with medical tourists.
Reference - http://www.imtj.com/news/?entryid82=458442#sthash.bPhkpp1s.dpuf
The draft policy is ready. The government is just waiting for comments from the tourism industry before finalising it in June.
The new policy is very ambitious. Rather than just a concept, it will detail how it will be implemented. There is an action plan with clear timelines and allocation as to who will execute the work.
The executing functions will be moved to a National Tourism Authority (NTA) to be set up. The NTA will have representations from the government and also from the private sector. In India, the biggest bottleneck of having a tourist body within any ministry is the numerous political hurdles that make any decision making process very laborious. The ministry of tourism admits that other departments, rivals and outside bodies mean it is unnecessarily hamstrung.
The National Tourism Authority will have representatives from the various stakeholders so it should truly reflect the aspirations of the trade and industry. It will have an ease and flexibility of doing things without being bogged down by the labyrinthine politics of India.
The policy aims to cash in on the global tourism boom and increase India’s share in world tourist arrivals from the present 0.68% to 1% by 2020 and then take it to 2% by 2025.
What makes the new policy different from the last one is the increased number of tourism products being offered, and a roadmap to achieve that. It calls for taking the marketing of tourism away from state control to independent national control, with funds from the national government
Among the plans -
• A new body to promote yoga
• A new body to promote Ayurveda
• An international yoga day every year
• A tourism university
• Promotion of wellness tourism
• Promotion of medical tourism
• Targeting the global Indian diaspora
• Setting up a national tourism advisory board
• Special Tourism Zones on the lines of SEZs
• Free Wi-Fi connectivity at tourist centres in India
The NTA will create a Medical Tourism Promotion Board to create synergy between tourism and the health care sector. The board will work with the industry to action out a clear game plan to work upon. The board will have representations from the ministry of healthcare, the medical industry including hospitals, Indian medicine as well as from tour operators who deal with medical tourists.
Reference - http://www.imtj.com/news/?entryid82=458442#sthash.bPhkpp1s.dpuf
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Esophageal Cancer Treatment - What You Should Know?
Esophagus is also known as Food-pipe, it is the tube that carries food, liquids and saliva from your mouth to the stomach. Esophageal Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in or on the food-pipe. If left untreated, these Cancerous cells spread very rapidly to the nearby tissues and other parts of the body and overall affects to the consumption of food and other related complications.
The symptoms of esophageal cancer are given below.
- Chest pain, pressure or burning
- Worsening indigestion or heartburn.
- Frequent choking while eating
- Coughing or hoarseness of voice
- Hoarseness or coughing
- Difficulty swallowing (Dysphagia)
- Weight loss without trying.
- Fatigue
- Smoking, chewing Tobacco
- Drinking very hot drinks for many years
- Drinking Alcohol
- Poor diet
Esophageal cancer treatment:-
Following are some of the esophageal cancer treatment options
Radiotherapy: High-energy radiation beams are targeted on the cancerous tissue in order to destroy it. Radiotherapy is usually used in addition with either chemotherapy or surgery.
Surgery: The surgical procedure for removing the entire or a part of the esophagus depends on the location and size of the tumor. There are a number of surgical procedures for reaching to the esophagus. The surgical procedure can remove nearby soft tissues, a section of the esophagus and the lymph nodes. The entire or a part of the stomach can also be removed. The cancer is removed by making several incisions in the abdomen and chest. In majority of cases, the stomach is pulled up and is then joined with the remaining portion of the esophagus. Also, a part of the intestine is used for connecting the stomach with the esophagus remaining part. A part of large intestine or small intestine may also be used. A part of the intestine is used when the stomach is removed for joining it with the left over part of the esophagus to the small intestine.
Chemotherapy: People with esophageal cancer can also be treated with the help of chemotherapy. This therapy makes use of certain drugs that helps in destroying the cancer cells. The injection of these drugs is done into a vein (intravenous) that then travels throughout the different parts of the body.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Skin Cancer: Supreme services for Skin Cancer treatment in India
A majority of individuals have the question of where Skin Cancer develops. And the answer is cancer develops most commonly in areas exposed-to-sun – face, scalp, ears, lips, chest, neck, hands and arms and/or legs of women. Skin Cancer is very rarely notified in areas of palms, beneath toenails or fingernails and genital area. Oncology care team states that different types of Skin Cancer have diverse signs and symptoms which can best be notified by undergoing some generalized diagnosis and tests which includes – mole-mapping, dermoscopy, biopsy, CLSM, CT and PET scan and blood test. Oncology surgeons say that some cancers are limited to surface of skin and not require much treatment but if additional treatment is needed options include – freezing, cryo-therapy, radiation-therapy, chemo-therapy, photodynamic-therapy, biological-therapy and a-like treatments can be performed.
The world is looking at Indian healthcare sector as numerous health-seeking patients are travelling to India in search of paramount services and cost-effective treatment packages. Well-trained nursing and administrative staff provides complete care and support to overseas patient and their family thus making them feel like being treated in native country. Cancer surgeons in India are committed to provide quality services and individualized care to overseas patients with skin disorders at remarkably-less cost. India is well-known for providing unparalleled success results for numerous medical treatment procedures at finest medical centers.
Forerunners Healthcare Consultants is premium medical tourism service Provider Company in India providing supreme medical assistance to overseas patients travelling from various corners of the world. The medical team has association with finest cancer surgeons and hospitals in India hereby providing unmatched facilities for Skin Cancer to overseas patients and making their travel comfortable.
For More Information Please Contact Us At:
Email: enquiry@forerunnershealthcare.com
Call us for appointment:- +91-9860755000 / +91-9371136499
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Robotic Prostatectomy Surgery in India with the Latest Cutting Edge Medical Technology
Robotic prostatectomy surgery is also known as robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. A radical prostatectomy is a medical procedure that involves complete elimination of the prostate gland as well as many of its nearby tissues. This surgery is generally done to cure prostate cancer, a disease in which the cells of the prostate gland in the male reproductive system divide and multiply in an abnormal way. Laparoscopy, is a surgical procedure in which the doctor does inflation of the stomach and inserts a lighted view providing surgical tool into the lower portion of the stomach, thus allowing the surgeons to view inside the patient without creating wide incisions like that in an open surgery. By making use of laparoscopy, a doctor may not require providing open surgery , this can reduce the risks and period of recovery and scarring that is observed in a more invasive surgical procedure.
Robotic prostatectomy surgery is having the highest rate of success among all treatment options for the diseases of prostate cancer. The rates of success for a robotic prostatectomy can range between 40 - 98%. Some medical studies have also displayed a success rate ranging from 76 to 98%. The work experience of the doctor performing the surgery is a very essential factor, i.e. surgeons have greater chances of success and lower risk rates if they do the procedure in a routine way.
Forerunners Healthcare Consultants in India is a health tourism consultancy that has acted as a median for abroad patients coming from destinations like USA, Canada, UK, Bangladesh, Uganda, South Africa and Australia. This company has helped foreign patients to save 60% of treatment cost that is being charged in developed countries other than in India. It helps patients in getting medical visa to India, flight tickets, pre-surgical tests and post surgical care. Forerunners Healthcare Consultants is having associations with the most experienced surgeons and reliable advanced hospitals in cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Nagpur.
For More Info Please Contact Us At:
Forerunners Healthcare Consultants PVT. LTD.
Book Appointment by sending your query at: enquiry@forerunnershealthcare.com
Call us for appointment:- +91-9371136499
Thursday, May 7, 2015
India e-tourist Visa Helps In Boosting Visitor Traffic
Buoyed by a rise in foreign tourist arrivals following the introduction of the e-tourist visa to several nationalities, including UAE citizens, India plans to extend the facility for more countries in the hopes of recording a jump in traffic this year.
India will extend the e-tourist visa facility to the nationals of 31 more countries from June this year, as part of a game-changing initiative to make travelling to India for tourism purpose “simple and hassle-free,” said Manas R. Pattanaik, regional director of Indian Tourism in Dubai.
Since the e-tourist visa facility has been made available for citizens of 45 countries on November 27, 2014, there has been a noticeable growth in traffic. In the first quarter of 2015 around 75,859 tourists arrived in India by availing the e-tourist visa facility. The Gulf-Middle East region is an important source market for India. “There has been a consistent growth in tourist arrivals from this region to India over the past three years with 2014 registering an overall growth of around19 per cent over the previous year. From UAE there was an increase of 1.8 per cent in the tourist traffic to India during the first quarter,” said Pattanaik.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market, where India has showcased its myriad of tourist attractions and potential under the ‘Incredible India’ banner.
Anurag Bhushan, Indian Consul General in Dubai; S. Pareeth, director, Department of Tourism, Kerala; Melvin D’silva, regional manager, Air India; and IRV. Rao, assistant director, India Tourism, were also present. In 2014, foreign tourist arrivals recorded a growth of 7.1 per cent to hit 7.46 million. Encouraged by the upswing in tourist traffic, India has set a target of boosting its share of global tourism traffic to at least one per cent from the present 0.66 per cent by 2017.
“A proposal for visa relaxation for a total of 150 countries in the world is under active consideration of the government. Tourism has been declared a priority sector by the government and the new tourism policy is on the anvil,” Pattanaik said.
Another hurdle towards a smooth travel experience in India has been removed with the introduction of e-ticketing for monuments, said Pattanaik.
The Regional Office of India Tourism in Dubai is organising tourism road shows, food festivals, and medical seminars in the GCC countries every year. Some of the countries, particularly, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt and Turkey have registered a significant growth and are emerging as major tourism generating markets for India from this region. The India Pavilion at the ATM has participants representing the State Tourism Board of Kerala along with Air India, ITDC, KTDC, tour operators, travel agents, hoteliers/resorts, wellness, spas and Ayurveda centres. The theme chosen this year by Ministry of Tourism for ATM, 2015 is “Find what you seek.”
One of the highlights of the ‘Incredible India’ showcase at ATM 2015 is the depiction of India as a multi-faceted tourist destination for luxury, wildlife, and wellness/medical tourism. “India has evolved as a round-the-year destination and all efforts are being made to develop niche products like wellness and medical tourism; adventure and wildlife tourism; film tourism; monsoon tourism; golf, polo and sports tourism and MICE tourism, while at the same time adding value to the cultural and heritage products of the country,” he said.
India has 32 World Heritage Sites, which include historic monuments and natural wonders.
Source - www.khaleejtimes.com/biz/inside.asp?xfile=/data/internationbusiness/2015/May/internationbusiness_May31.xml§ion=internationbusiness
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
What is Medical Tourism?
Medical tourists are subject to a variety of risks, which may include deep vein thrombosis, tuberculosis, amoebic dysentery, paratyphoid, poor post-operative care and other reasons. Medical tourism is a growing sector in India. It is expected to witness an annual growth rate of 30%, making it a $2 billion industry by the year-end.
The advantages include reduced costs, availability of latest medical technologies, a growing compliance on international quality standards, as well as the fact that foreigners are less likely to face a language barrier in India. The government has removed visa restrictions on tourist visas that required a two-month gap between consecutive visits for people from Gulf countries which is likely to boost medical tourism.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) reported that 150,000 medical tourists came to India in 2005 while ASSOCHAM projected that by the end of this year the number could swell to a staggering 3,200,000. The treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain. The most popular treatments sought are alternative medicine, bone-marrow transplant, cardiac bypass, eye surgery and hip replacement. India is known in particular for heart surgery, hip resurfacing and other areas of advanced medicine.
Lower treatment cost does not necessarily mean lower healthcare standards. There are 21 JCI accredited hospitals in India and the number is growing. Chennai has been called as India's health capital. Multi- and super-specialty hospitals across the city bring in an estimated 150 international patients every day. It attracts about 45 per cent of health tourists from abroad arriving in the country and 30 to 40 per cent of domestic health tourists.
Source - http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2015-04-29/What-is-Medical-Tourism-147558
Friday, April 24, 2015
India’s Healthcare Tourism Portal Inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi at GES
The Healthcare Tourism Portal was launched on the occasion of inauguration of the three-day Global Exhibition on Services that commenced in New Delhi on 23rd April, 2015. The event was also attended by Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Communications and Information Technology and Ms Smriti Irani, Minister of Human Resource Development. The inauguration was followed by a short film on medical tourism in India.
The Healthcare Tourism Portal was developed by the Department of Commerce, Govt of India and the Services Export Promotion Council. The Healthcare Tourism portal is the long awaited fulfillment of the need to have an authentic and dynamic information source which can effectively be used by any treatment seeker/potential medical tourist from across the globe.
India Healthcare Tourism
The Healthcare Tourism portal is a comprehensive one-point information site and covers hospital-related and travel-related information on India. Presently, it covers 124 accredited medical facilities which include 93 medical centers, 30 Ayurveda and Wellness centers and 1 special category center. 74 facilities are located in Tier I cites and the rest are in Tier II cities.
The medical facilities on the Healthcare Tourism Portal are locatable by easy to search options by location, medical specialty, key procedures, language options available in hospitals and their certifications. The key medical and wellness procedures done by these institutions are highlighted. Associated details such as costs relating to treatment in hospitals in India, travel and visa formalities, last-mile connectivity, tariff options on stay, benefits of treatment in India, advance information on preparatory aspects in seeking medical care etc. are also available on the portal.
Source-
http://d24.in/indias-healthcare-tourism-portal-inaugurated-by-pm-narendra-modi-at-ges/
Thursday, April 9, 2015
India-UAE health event to boost medical tourism
The initial steps in this direction will see the launch of an Indo-UAE Health Cooperation Programme that will begin with a two-day event in Dubai from today.
Dubai — With the new generation of Emiratis and others in the region increasingly preferring the West for medical tourism, India is trying to regain its position as a major destination for medical travellers from here.
The Indian government has come up with new strategies to build better cooperation in the health sector with the GCC countries. The initial steps in this direction will see the launch of an Indo-UAE Health Cooperation Programme that will begin with a two-day event in Dubai from today. It aims to develop strategic partnership in the medical and holistic healthcare sector between India and the UAE.
Announcing the details of the programme, which will see its Oman leg next week, officials at the Indian Consulate in Dubai said efforts are on to open new chapters in India’s relations with the region in the health sector.
The Consulate last year issued 700 medical visas to India, marking a significant drop in the numbers from the previous years, said Consul for Commerce, Press & Information Anita Nandhini.
She said the reason could be the preference given to Western countries by the newer generation of Emiratis when it comes to medical tourism.
“The older generation used to visit India for medical treatment while the new generation is flying out to the West. It could be because they are better aware of the facilities there. But the fact is even in the US and other countries there are a lot of Indian doctors.”
She said the Indian authorities are trying to revive the tradition. “We are also trying to complement the way Dubai itself is trying to attract medical travelers, by offering treatment in Ayurveda and other complementary medicine streams. Indian healthcare groups are also keen on increasing their presence here by investing here.”
Organised by the Indian Ministry of Tourism in association with the Consulate and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, the event is supported by the Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Healthcare City and Indian Business and Professional Council.
It will include an exhibition and a continuing medical education (CME) conference.
Resource - http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/inside.asp?xfile=/data/nationgeneral/2015/April/nationgeneral_April91.xml§ion=nationgeneral
Friday, March 20, 2015
The Patient Abroad: An Exploration of the Motivations and Impact of Medical Tourism
Approximately 11 million people were medical tourists in 2013, generating a market worth over $50 billion. While obtaining accurate data is challenging, estimates suggest the global medical tourism market is expanding by 25% each year.
Having grown up in the UK, where high-quality healthcare is available to all through the National Health Service, I hadn't given the concept of medical tourism a great deal of thought before I moved to Asia. It would simply not have occurred to me to seek healthcare overseas for any other reason than if I happened to fall ill while traveling.
I first became aware of the concept when reading rumors that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was being treated in one of Singapore's exclusive private hospitals – which happened to be just down the road from my apartment at the time. This led to much discussion among my peers about how much it would cost to be a medical tourist in Singapore. "High end" patients can expect to accrue bills of thousands of dollars. The most expensive "hospitel" (hospital hotel) penthouse suite (not room) in Singapore costs over $8,000 per night – and it does not include the additional costs of medical treatment. This particular establishment anticipates that at least half of its "guests" (not patients) will come from overseas.
For patients like President Mugabe, the motivation to seek treatment overseas in countries such as Singapore is clear–they have the means to pay for healthcare of a far higher quality than is available even in the best private clinics in their home country.
Singapore is also a particularly popular medical tourism destination for affluent Indonesians because of its proximity to that country. Once again, there is a relative quality differential when compared to what is available to them at home. This year Singapore expects to receive more than one million foreign patients, the majority from Indonesia. Interestingly, an Indonesian newspaper recently noted a growing trend for the obituaries posted in its pages to cite the hospital in which the patient passed away. This indicates that there is a prestige factor in being treated at a top overseas hospital.
Other Asian markets have pursued a different medical tourism strategy, profiting from differences in the cost of healthcare between countries. In the battle to attract medical tourists from overseas, these countries are positioning themselves as offering relatively high-quality, low-cost healthcare, often in a particular niche type of treatment or procedure. It is increasingly common for people to travel to Thailand for cosmetic dental veneers, to India for laser eye surgery or to South Korea for a plastic surgery procedure, for example. Here the motivation of the tourist is the opposite of those described above. It is to get a bargain when compared to the cost in their home country.
Outside of the Asian context, a similar phenomenon can be found in the Americas, where US citizens are increasingly crossing the border to access healthcare in Mexico or even traveling further south to access Colombia's elite private medical facilities for a fraction of the price they would pay at home. Weight-loss surgery is a particularly popular medical tourism choice, as these procedures are typically outside of the remit of US insurance plans, and out-of-pocket payments are much lower in Latin America. For healthcare that is covered by insurance, some insurers have recently attempted to leverage the medical tourism trend by launching pilot programs which link up with non-US hospitals to provide treatment, thereby reducing the cost of treatment and improving their margins.
Turkey, another growing medical tourism destination, is uniquely positioned within the market in that it attracts tourists from the European Union and US due to its comparatively low-cost healthcare, while also appealing to affluent citizens of troubled neighboring Middle Eastern countries such as Syria by offering relatively high-quality healthcare they lack access to domestically.
Sensing opportunity for further economic growth, medical tourism destinations are expanding their ambitions, with many pursuing aggressive strategies to attract patients in an increasingly competitive marketplace. For example, while South Korea's plastic surgery industry is a global success story, with the nation boasting the highest per capita number of plastic surgeons worldwide, there is a drive to move beyond plastic surgery tourism into other therapy areas, such as oncology. Turkey benefits from a Turkish Airlines initiative to support patients visiting Turkey for medical purposes by providing these individuals with discounted, flexible airfares and excess luggage allowances.
However, barriers to medical tourism inevitably remain. Logistically, it's a hassle – especially when illness is involved. It isn't an option in acute situations, and some patients are simply too sick to travel. Fears about quality and safety of healthcare in other markets hold back some tourists, particularly those seeking a bargain. Aftercare and follow-up care are also a challenge – particularly if a chronic disease is involved. Hence medical tourism has become most popular for planned, optional, one-off procedures (as per the earlier examples of aesthetics and weight loss).
Nevertheless in some emerging markets medical tourism already has a significant impact and is something we need to consider when exploring the opportunities different markets offer for pharma. In Singapore, for example, medical tourism extends the value of its pharmaceutical market beyond that of its local population, making it relatively more important for manufacturers of high-cost drugs than a simple glance at its population size might suggest.
Looking to the future, as travel gets easier and the world becomes progressively more digitally entwined and interconnected, it might be that some of the remaining barriers currently holding back even more widespread medical tourism can be overcome. Technological innovation in the form of e-health, telemedicine and online pharmacies may make follow-up care and repeat prescriptions more straightforward. Improved and globally recognized quality controls and accreditations, plus access to online reviews from fellow medical tourists, may help ease some patients' lingering concerns about safety and quality of the care they can expect to receive abroad. Perhaps in some markets the influx of affluent international patients will price all but the most affluent local population out of private healthcare in their own country.
The patient journey within a single healthcare system may become less predictable, posing a number of pertinent questions about how the pharmaceutical industry approaches marketing and "beyond the pill" patient support initiatives. Taking this a step further, as global healthcare borders become increasingly blurred, the internationally mobile patient may become a standard patient segment considered in healthcare market research.
Resource -
www.mmm-online.com/the-patient-abroad-an-exploration-of-the-motivations-and-impact-of-medical-tourism/article/404476/
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.com/
http://health-tourism-india.page.tl
Having grown up in the UK, where high-quality healthcare is available to all through the National Health Service, I hadn't given the concept of medical tourism a great deal of thought before I moved to Asia. It would simply not have occurred to me to seek healthcare overseas for any other reason than if I happened to fall ill while traveling.
I first became aware of the concept when reading rumors that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was being treated in one of Singapore's exclusive private hospitals – which happened to be just down the road from my apartment at the time. This led to much discussion among my peers about how much it would cost to be a medical tourist in Singapore. "High end" patients can expect to accrue bills of thousands of dollars. The most expensive "hospitel" (hospital hotel) penthouse suite (not room) in Singapore costs over $8,000 per night – and it does not include the additional costs of medical treatment. This particular establishment anticipates that at least half of its "guests" (not patients) will come from overseas.
For patients like President Mugabe, the motivation to seek treatment overseas in countries such as Singapore is clear–they have the means to pay for healthcare of a far higher quality than is available even in the best private clinics in their home country.
Singapore is also a particularly popular medical tourism destination for affluent Indonesians because of its proximity to that country. Once again, there is a relative quality differential when compared to what is available to them at home. This year Singapore expects to receive more than one million foreign patients, the majority from Indonesia. Interestingly, an Indonesian newspaper recently noted a growing trend for the obituaries posted in its pages to cite the hospital in which the patient passed away. This indicates that there is a prestige factor in being treated at a top overseas hospital.
Other Asian markets have pursued a different medical tourism strategy, profiting from differences in the cost of healthcare between countries. In the battle to attract medical tourists from overseas, these countries are positioning themselves as offering relatively high-quality, low-cost healthcare, often in a particular niche type of treatment or procedure. It is increasingly common for people to travel to Thailand for cosmetic dental veneers, to India for laser eye surgery or to South Korea for a plastic surgery procedure, for example. Here the motivation of the tourist is the opposite of those described above. It is to get a bargain when compared to the cost in their home country.
Outside of the Asian context, a similar phenomenon can be found in the Americas, where US citizens are increasingly crossing the border to access healthcare in Mexico or even traveling further south to access Colombia's elite private medical facilities for a fraction of the price they would pay at home. Weight-loss surgery is a particularly popular medical tourism choice, as these procedures are typically outside of the remit of US insurance plans, and out-of-pocket payments are much lower in Latin America. For healthcare that is covered by insurance, some insurers have recently attempted to leverage the medical tourism trend by launching pilot programs which link up with non-US hospitals to provide treatment, thereby reducing the cost of treatment and improving their margins.
Turkey, another growing medical tourism destination, is uniquely positioned within the market in that it attracts tourists from the European Union and US due to its comparatively low-cost healthcare, while also appealing to affluent citizens of troubled neighboring Middle Eastern countries such as Syria by offering relatively high-quality healthcare they lack access to domestically.
Sensing opportunity for further economic growth, medical tourism destinations are expanding their ambitions, with many pursuing aggressive strategies to attract patients in an increasingly competitive marketplace. For example, while South Korea's plastic surgery industry is a global success story, with the nation boasting the highest per capita number of plastic surgeons worldwide, there is a drive to move beyond plastic surgery tourism into other therapy areas, such as oncology. Turkey benefits from a Turkish Airlines initiative to support patients visiting Turkey for medical purposes by providing these individuals with discounted, flexible airfares and excess luggage allowances.
However, barriers to medical tourism inevitably remain. Logistically, it's a hassle – especially when illness is involved. It isn't an option in acute situations, and some patients are simply too sick to travel. Fears about quality and safety of healthcare in other markets hold back some tourists, particularly those seeking a bargain. Aftercare and follow-up care are also a challenge – particularly if a chronic disease is involved. Hence medical tourism has become most popular for planned, optional, one-off procedures (as per the earlier examples of aesthetics and weight loss).
Nevertheless in some emerging markets medical tourism already has a significant impact and is something we need to consider when exploring the opportunities different markets offer for pharma. In Singapore, for example, medical tourism extends the value of its pharmaceutical market beyond that of its local population, making it relatively more important for manufacturers of high-cost drugs than a simple glance at its population size might suggest.
Looking to the future, as travel gets easier and the world becomes progressively more digitally entwined and interconnected, it might be that some of the remaining barriers currently holding back even more widespread medical tourism can be overcome. Technological innovation in the form of e-health, telemedicine and online pharmacies may make follow-up care and repeat prescriptions more straightforward. Improved and globally recognized quality controls and accreditations, plus access to online reviews from fellow medical tourists, may help ease some patients' lingering concerns about safety and quality of the care they can expect to receive abroad. Perhaps in some markets the influx of affluent international patients will price all but the most affluent local population out of private healthcare in their own country.
The patient journey within a single healthcare system may become less predictable, posing a number of pertinent questions about how the pharmaceutical industry approaches marketing and "beyond the pill" patient support initiatives. Taking this a step further, as global healthcare borders become increasingly blurred, the internationally mobile patient may become a standard patient segment considered in healthcare market research.
Resource -
www.mmm-online.com/the-patient-abroad-an-exploration-of-the-motivations-and-impact-of-medical-tourism/article/404476/
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.com/
http://health-tourism-india.page.tl
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Medical Tourism Market (India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea, Costa Rica, Poland, Dubai and Philippines) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019
Medical tourism is a direct result of globalization of healthcare. According to the Medical Tourism Association, a global non-profit organization, it was estimated that approximately 1.6 million Americans travelled to other destinations in 2012 for medical services and this number is anticipated to grow in the near future. Rising number of uninsured population and rise in demand for cosmetic surgery is further driving market growth. There is an emerging opportunity for Asian and Middle Eastern countries that are catering to the healthcare requirements of developed countries like the U.S, Canada and European countries. Factors such as medical specializations, geographic proximity, portability of health insurance, and reputation of the country are some of the main reasons that compel the patient to move to another destination. However, factors such as problem in follow-up care, medical malpractice and others could restrain the growth of this market.
The research report on the global medical tourism market helps in understanding the prominent forces responsible for the growth of this industry. In addition, the current market dynamics including drivers, restraints, trends, and developments are covered throughout the report. The research report provides in-depth analysis of the geographies facilitating inbound medical services that include India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Taiwan, South Korea and prospective countries. Market size estimates and forecast for the period 2011 to 2019 has been given for each of the countries, in terms of USD million, using 2012 as a base year. The market overview section of the report comprises qualitative analysis of the overall market considering the factors determining the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints and opportunities along with Porter’s five forces analysis. These different analyses would provide a thorough understanding about the market from its past, present and future perspectives and help market players to design effective business strategies. Further, the report on medical tourism comprises executive summary chapter that will help you understand the overall market size, growth rate of various segments, geographies and competitors present in the market in a very precise manner.
This report on medical tourism also deals with various government initiatives taken by different countries in order to boost the medical tourism market. Besides, this report covers various aspects such as market size on the basis of number of medical tourists, revenue generated from foreign patients and market segmentation based on the most sought after procedures. Medical tourism report also provides profiles of major hospitals that provide medical treatment to foreign patients. Some of the significant players in this market include Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., Bumrungrad International Hospital, Asian Heart Institute and others. These market players are profiled on the basis of various attributes such as company overview, recent developments, financial overview and strategies adopted by them to flourish in the market.
The global medical tourism market is segmented into the following categories:
Medical Tourism Market, by Geography
India
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- India Inbound Medical Tourism (No. of patients)
- India Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Thailand
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Thailand Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Thailand Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Singapore
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Singapore Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Singapore Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Malaysia
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Malaysia Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Malaysia Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Mexico
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Mexico Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Mexico Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Brazil
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Brazil Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Brazil Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Turkey
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Turkey Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Turkey Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
South Korea
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- South Korea Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- South Korea Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
- Overview
- Cost Comparison of Procedures
- SWOT Analysis
- Government Support
- Taiwan Inbound Medical Tourism ( No. of patients)
- Taiwan Medical Tourism: Top Revenue Contributing Country (%) (2012)
Prospective Countries
- Costa Rica
- Poland
- Dubai
- Philippines
- Ghana
Resource -
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.com
http://medicaltravelindia.edublogs.org
http://www.scoop.it/t/medical-tourism-by-anan-adisa
www.transparencymarketresearch.com/medical-tourism.html
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
National MS Awareness Week
Thank you to everyone who participated in MS Awareness Week 2014.
People all over the nation are coming together to share, educate and
build awareness about what multiple sclerosis means to them. Together,
we are a powerful movement, working to create a world free of MS. Will
you share what MS equals to you?
Monday, February 23, 2015
Medical tourism in Ghana
Patients travel to another country in order to receive faster, cheaper or better medical services than they would receive in their home countries. This can include a wide array of procedures ranging from elective and preventative procedures to urgent care. The most popular elective medical procedures include joint replacements (hip and knee), cardiac surgery and cosmetic surgeries (liposuction, breast augmentation and facelifts).(4)
Medical tourism packages often offer a consultation, treatment (surgery), a physical therapist and personal assistant, and recovery in a spa.(5) Medical tourism therefore offers the patient a chance to receive medical treatment and recover in a vacation-like setting. Oftentimes patients recuperate at medical tourism hotels that resemble five-star hotels.(6) They can also opt to partake in tourism activities in the host country prior to departing from it.
When the medical tourism industry began to be established as its own industry, it was conceived as the movement of patients from the Global North to the Global South in search of faster and more affordable healthcare.(7) Medical tourism in Africa emerged as an industry in response to visitors from the Global North increasingly travelling to destinations such as India or Thailand to receive treatment. Visitors from countries such as Japan, the UK and the United States (US) were uninsured or underinsured. They could not afford the high medical costs in their own countries and were opting for cheaper locations. Many others from these countries wanted to have a procedure done without being wait-listed. Medical tourism therefore filled a niche need for these tourists. Countries in the Global South offered tourists from the Global North a profit-driven, low-cost alternative to receiving quality healthcare.
Medical Tourism in Philippines
Medical Tourism is one of the industries that helps the economy of our neighbor countries like India, Singapore and Thailand.
“And with how competent our local doctors in the country and how low our prices when it come to medical services , I think it’s one of the best time that we boost our efforts to promote the industry and make it among our offerings to invite tourists in the country
The Philippines as a Tourism Destination
When it comes to relaxing destinations, the Philippines is a paradise. Palawan, Boracay and Batanes are among the places that are plagued by tourists. We just need to equip these local destinations with convenient transportation and modern medical services.
Medical Tourism in Taiwan
Affordable, world-class cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery, and cosmetic treatments such as liposuction, botox, tummy tucks, rhinoplasty, breast implants, and more are available at Taiwan's finest medical centers.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Indians To Get Preference Over Foreigners: Transplants
Lakhs of foreigners thronging India every year seeking organ transplantation may find it difficult now. In an attempt to step up safeguards against misuse, the government has mandated that allocation of organs be made in a specified sequence giving preference to Indians over foreigners.
However, the medical fraternity has opposed the move alleging this will force doctors to differentiate between patients based on region and nationality, which is a violation of Medical Council of India (MCI) Act.
In a letter addressed to health secretary Lov Verma, Indian Medical Association (IMA) said, "Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014 are now been implemented and the rule 31 (4e) is a violation of MCI Act...the matter is a serious concern to the medical fraternity and needs immediate attention".
Recently, the Delhi government also issued an order to private hospitals asking them to obtain a no-objection certificate from at least two government hospitals with waiting lists-RP Centre (AIIMS) and Guru Nanak Eye Centre (MAMC)-before undertaking a transplant.
The move was triggered by aberrations found in cornea transplant. While the demand for cornea in India is very high, there are very few who manage to get it. Institutes like AIIMS usually have 500-600 waiting to get the tissue. Experts say, while inadequate donors is a major concern, often Indian patients in need do not get them in the absence of stringent law.
According to Organ Retrieval Banking Organization, a wing of AIIMS, over 1 lakh corneas are required every year, whereas only 25,000 are transplanted. Similarly, there is a need for 1-1.5 lakh kidneys per year but merely 3,500-4,000 transplants take place. For liver transplant, the need is 15,000 -20,000 every year but only around 500 take place.
However, doctors feel the organ allocation policy needs to be framed in a way that it doesn't discriminate between patients in need. Moreover, such a policy should ensure speedy procedure as organs may be wasted if not used within a specified time, says IMA secretary general Dr K K Aggarwal.
The government's move may also hurt various leading private hospitals who clock significant part of their international revenue from organ transplantation. With stricter norms and procedures, number of transplants in foreign patients may be impacted.
According to the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014, in the chain of priority list, foreign nationals come at the end only after exhausting needs of Indian patients.
India's medical tourism industry is pegged at around $3 billion and growing at 20% a year. Leading hospital chains like Apollo, Medanta, Max and Ganga Ram attract patients mostly from Africa, CIS countries, Gulf and Saarc nations, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. According to officials from these hospitals, patients primarily come for organ transplants, oncology-related treatment and cardiac and orthopedic surgeries.
Resource: - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Transplants-Indians-to-get-preference-over-foreigners/articleshow/46036907.cms
However, the medical fraternity has opposed the move alleging this will force doctors to differentiate between patients based on region and nationality, which is a violation of Medical Council of India (MCI) Act.
In a letter addressed to health secretary Lov Verma, Indian Medical Association (IMA) said, "Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014 are now been implemented and the rule 31 (4e) is a violation of MCI Act...the matter is a serious concern to the medical fraternity and needs immediate attention".
Recently, the Delhi government also issued an order to private hospitals asking them to obtain a no-objection certificate from at least two government hospitals with waiting lists-RP Centre (AIIMS) and Guru Nanak Eye Centre (MAMC)-before undertaking a transplant.
The move was triggered by aberrations found in cornea transplant. While the demand for cornea in India is very high, there are very few who manage to get it. Institutes like AIIMS usually have 500-600 waiting to get the tissue. Experts say, while inadequate donors is a major concern, often Indian patients in need do not get them in the absence of stringent law.
According to Organ Retrieval Banking Organization, a wing of AIIMS, over 1 lakh corneas are required every year, whereas only 25,000 are transplanted. Similarly, there is a need for 1-1.5 lakh kidneys per year but merely 3,500-4,000 transplants take place. For liver transplant, the need is 15,000 -20,000 every year but only around 500 take place.
However, doctors feel the organ allocation policy needs to be framed in a way that it doesn't discriminate between patients in need. Moreover, such a policy should ensure speedy procedure as organs may be wasted if not used within a specified time, says IMA secretary general Dr K K Aggarwal.
The government's move may also hurt various leading private hospitals who clock significant part of their international revenue from organ transplantation. With stricter norms and procedures, number of transplants in foreign patients may be impacted.
According to the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014, in the chain of priority list, foreign nationals come at the end only after exhausting needs of Indian patients.
India's medical tourism industry is pegged at around $3 billion and growing at 20% a year. Leading hospital chains like Apollo, Medanta, Max and Ganga Ram attract patients mostly from Africa, CIS countries, Gulf and Saarc nations, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. According to officials from these hospitals, patients primarily come for organ transplants, oncology-related treatment and cardiac and orthopedic surgeries.
Resource: - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Transplants-Indians-to-get-preference-over-foreigners/articleshow/46036907.cms
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Medical treatment not approved yet? No problem! Welcome to circumvention tourism
Medical tourism is the practice of seeking medical care across international borders. Countries with established medical sectors like the US, Europe, India and Thailand have been traditional destinations for international visitors seeking medical care. Even through costs are typically paid for out-of-pocket, some patients seek medical care overseas because it’s cheaper than in their home country.
But low costs aren’t the only draw. Now China, Russia and countries in the Caribbean are positioning themselves as destinations for another kind of medical visitor: the circumvention tourist. Increasingly people are traveling abroad for care that is unapproved by regulators in their home countries. In some cases, these so-called circumvention tourists may be seeking unproven and untested medical interventions.
But why would someone want to skirt domestic regulations aimed at protecting patient safety? Our research about medical tourism in the Bahamas offers some insights.
Access to new treatment options
The Bahamas offers Americans access to treatments that have been approved in other places, but not yet in the US. High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for prostate cancer, which has been approved in Canada and the EU but not the US, is one example. With something like HIFU, patients might think that the intervention is safe and effective because it has been approved elsewhere and that their domestic regulatory agency is acting too slowly to approve the treatment.
And going a step further, the Bahamas recently passed legislation that will ease the way for offering unproven stem cell interventions for a range of conditions including vascular disease, cancer, kidney disease and others. While some stem cell treatments have received regulatory approval elsewhere, others have not been demonstrated as safe and effective in clinical trials, let alone been approved for human use by any major Western regulator.
For instance, a Canadian fashion designer has announced plans to develop a stem cell clinic in the Bahamas that, he claims, will help “reverse the aging process.” In these cases, individuals are typically motivated by frustration with existing treatments and sufficiently desperate to seek unproven interventions for often life-threatening ailments.
Undermining medical decisions and research
Clearly, there are reasons to worry about circumvention tourism. It complicates informed decision-making, particularly in the case of life-saving treatments. Individuals may be desperate for a cure and vulnerable to engaging in decision-making that’s predicated on hope without a full understanding of the likelihood of success. By choosing to seek care on one’s own, circumvention tourism can also undermine patients’ relationships with their home physicians. This can make it more difficult for these medical professionals to provide guidance and advice for their patients.
The practice can also undermine the regulatory restrictions that protect patients from harm and fraud. Stem cell treatments, in particular, have been associated with fraudulent activities that have left people worse-off financially and even resulted in the loss of life. For example, a UK couple engaged in stem cell tourism in China in the hope of curing their son’s autism. However, they found the practices at the clinic dubious and the treatments on the verge of being abusive. The treatment cost them £20,000 (over US$30,000) and did not improve their son’s situation.
The loss of regulatory control threatens patient safety, and the safety of third parties who come into contact with these patients or serve as donors of tissue or reproductive service. The spread of the NDM-1 drug resistant enzyme (which can make bacteria resistant to many antibiotics), for example, has been linked to the travels of medical tourists.
And when patients go abroad for these interventions and opt out of clinical trials, it slows the process of research. For example, unregistered and unscientific cellular therapies draw clients who are willing to travel far distances and pay high fees for procedures that are unproven.
People are now traveling to Russia for unproven stem cell injections. Fraudulent stem cell therapies may jeopardize the legitimacy of real scientific trials, especially in the eyes of the public for whom the distinction could be hard to discern. Public support and funding for such research may be reduced across the entire field.
New options and better policies
But there can be advantages to circumvention tourism. In some circumstances it can create new options for medical personnel. In the case of the HIFU treatment, US-based doctors perform the treatment in the Bahamas in cooperation with local health workers. This allows them to gain new skills that will be useful when and if HIFU is approved locally. However, financial entanglements between these doctors and HIFU’s manufacturer have raised ethical concerns.
Patients can have access to a greater range of treatment options as well. And circumvention tourism can pressure regulators to reassess their policies. In the case of the FDA, other jurisdictions' faster regulatory approval for new interventions has contributed to public pressure to reform its approval processes.
Countries receiving circumvention tourists also benefit through economic diversification and less reliance on the volatile traditional tourism industry.
We found that the Bahamas will have a hard time competing with other Caribbean countries on cost for medical services, so the opportunity to offer specialist treatments like HIFU and stem cell injections gives the country the chance to compete for international patients.
What to do?
Circumvention tourism, whether to the Bahamas or other countries isn’t going stop. There’s a strong case for cooperation between regulators in both destination and source countries for patients seeking treatment abroad to avoid a regulatory race to the bottom. No one wants to see a contest between destination countries to offer the fewest restrictions on treatments in order to attract the largest number of patients.
The first step might be to emphasize the distinction between treatments like HIFU that have regulatory approval by well-established regulators elsewhere in the world and less reputable interventions that have not successfully passed any reputable regulatory scrutiny.
Resource:
https://theconversation.com/medical-treatment-not-approved-yet-no-problem-welcome-to-circumvention-tourism-35070
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.in/2014/07/india-doctors-surgens.html
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.in/p/blog-page.html
But low costs aren’t the only draw. Now China, Russia and countries in the Caribbean are positioning themselves as destinations for another kind of medical visitor: the circumvention tourist. Increasingly people are traveling abroad for care that is unapproved by regulators in their home countries. In some cases, these so-called circumvention tourists may be seeking unproven and untested medical interventions.
But why would someone want to skirt domestic regulations aimed at protecting patient safety? Our research about medical tourism in the Bahamas offers some insights.
Access to new treatment options
The Bahamas offers Americans access to treatments that have been approved in other places, but not yet in the US. High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for prostate cancer, which has been approved in Canada and the EU but not the US, is one example. With something like HIFU, patients might think that the intervention is safe and effective because it has been approved elsewhere and that their domestic regulatory agency is acting too slowly to approve the treatment.
And going a step further, the Bahamas recently passed legislation that will ease the way for offering unproven stem cell interventions for a range of conditions including vascular disease, cancer, kidney disease and others. While some stem cell treatments have received regulatory approval elsewhere, others have not been demonstrated as safe and effective in clinical trials, let alone been approved for human use by any major Western regulator.
For instance, a Canadian fashion designer has announced plans to develop a stem cell clinic in the Bahamas that, he claims, will help “reverse the aging process.” In these cases, individuals are typically motivated by frustration with existing treatments and sufficiently desperate to seek unproven interventions for often life-threatening ailments.
Undermining medical decisions and research
Clearly, there are reasons to worry about circumvention tourism. It complicates informed decision-making, particularly in the case of life-saving treatments. Individuals may be desperate for a cure and vulnerable to engaging in decision-making that’s predicated on hope without a full understanding of the likelihood of success. By choosing to seek care on one’s own, circumvention tourism can also undermine patients’ relationships with their home physicians. This can make it more difficult for these medical professionals to provide guidance and advice for their patients.
The practice can also undermine the regulatory restrictions that protect patients from harm and fraud. Stem cell treatments, in particular, have been associated with fraudulent activities that have left people worse-off financially and even resulted in the loss of life. For example, a UK couple engaged in stem cell tourism in China in the hope of curing their son’s autism. However, they found the practices at the clinic dubious and the treatments on the verge of being abusive. The treatment cost them £20,000 (over US$30,000) and did not improve their son’s situation.
The loss of regulatory control threatens patient safety, and the safety of third parties who come into contact with these patients or serve as donors of tissue or reproductive service. The spread of the NDM-1 drug resistant enzyme (which can make bacteria resistant to many antibiotics), for example, has been linked to the travels of medical tourists.
And when patients go abroad for these interventions and opt out of clinical trials, it slows the process of research. For example, unregistered and unscientific cellular therapies draw clients who are willing to travel far distances and pay high fees for procedures that are unproven.
People are now traveling to Russia for unproven stem cell injections. Fraudulent stem cell therapies may jeopardize the legitimacy of real scientific trials, especially in the eyes of the public for whom the distinction could be hard to discern. Public support and funding for such research may be reduced across the entire field.
New options and better policies
But there can be advantages to circumvention tourism. In some circumstances it can create new options for medical personnel. In the case of the HIFU treatment, US-based doctors perform the treatment in the Bahamas in cooperation with local health workers. This allows them to gain new skills that will be useful when and if HIFU is approved locally. However, financial entanglements between these doctors and HIFU’s manufacturer have raised ethical concerns.
Patients can have access to a greater range of treatment options as well. And circumvention tourism can pressure regulators to reassess their policies. In the case of the FDA, other jurisdictions' faster regulatory approval for new interventions has contributed to public pressure to reform its approval processes.
Countries receiving circumvention tourists also benefit through economic diversification and less reliance on the volatile traditional tourism industry.
We found that the Bahamas will have a hard time competing with other Caribbean countries on cost for medical services, so the opportunity to offer specialist treatments like HIFU and stem cell injections gives the country the chance to compete for international patients.
What to do?
Circumvention tourism, whether to the Bahamas or other countries isn’t going stop. There’s a strong case for cooperation between regulators in both destination and source countries for patients seeking treatment abroad to avoid a regulatory race to the bottom. No one wants to see a contest between destination countries to offer the fewest restrictions on treatments in order to attract the largest number of patients.
The first step might be to emphasize the distinction between treatments like HIFU that have regulatory approval by well-established regulators elsewhere in the world and less reputable interventions that have not successfully passed any reputable regulatory scrutiny.
Resource:
https://theconversation.com/medical-treatment-not-approved-yet-no-problem-welcome-to-circumvention-tourism-35070
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.in/2014/07/india-doctors-surgens.html
http://medical-tourism-magazine.blogspot.in/p/blog-page.html
