With medical tourism you travel to another country for various medical treatments. If you draw a comparison nearly thousands of patients travel abroad for medical related needs. It is not a single factor as there are numerous factors that influence your decision to travel overseas. In case of some people treatment may be cheap in one country. In the case of others it could be because of quality treatment as well. Whereas in some cases the preferred choice of treatment may not be available in the home country as well. In this regard treatment like cosmetic or dentistry is the common areas.
But having said so there are a lot of risks which you can associate with medical tourism as well. This would depend on the procedures performed, but there are still some general issues. They are
- You need to take into consideration that communication can be a problem. When you travel to an alien land and the people are not able to understand your language you will find yourself in a major soup for sure.
- In certain countries you cannot rely on the quality of medicines. They might work out to be of poor quality
- In case if you are planning to fly after surgery it may increase the chances of blood clots.
What can be done to combat these issues?
- In case if you are planning to travel aboard for medical tourism it would be better to seek an appointment with a general practioner. This would be around 4 to 6 weeks before you travel. Here you can discuss with them the risks along with the post-surgical care before you plan to touch down.
- It could be possible that you might have some current medical conditions. Before you travel see to it that all of them are under control.
- Do make it a point that you check the track record of the surgeon who will be performing the procedure on you. At this point of time you need to take note of the fact that the criteria for each and every country would be different.
- Do enter into a written agreement with the health care provider. This would include the kind of facilities which they are going to provide to you. It would mean the cover along with the cost of the trip which would be covered by you as well.
- In case if you are planning to go to a country where you are not aware on how people will communicate, then address this issue. Clearly understand on how you are going to devise a way where you will communicate with others.
- Do arrange for the follow up care procedure before you leave the place
- In case if you are planning any vacation activities, just try to find out whether it is allowed or not.
On all counts medical tourism in India does attract in lot of foreign tourists. It happens to be one of the fastest developing sectors in the history of the country as well.
