Medical Tourism: Top Ten Destinations

chillibreeze writer — Darshana Purkayastha

>> Here's a useful handbook for Medical Tourists to India

Medical tourism or health tourism as it is called is a recent term that has been coined to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling away from one’s own country to other parts of the world to obtain better health care facilities. With the rapid increase in this facility, medical tourism today has fetched itself the national ‘industry’ status and over 50 countries have been identified for this purpose.

Medical tourism comes as a viable alternative to overpriced domestic procedures. It allows patients to go for elective procedures, along with other complex and specialized treatments such as operations for joint replacement, cardiac and other cosmetic surgeries. But treatments for international and outstation patients are not confined to the availability of these services; all kinds of medical services are offered to those needing it.

The reasons people travel out of their own country for treatment may vary from their seeking economy in the procedures or for better facilities than those available in their own country. US citizens and people from Canada and Great Britain move out of their respective countries to reduce cost by a 10th of the cost at home. For some others, opting for medical tourism is a chance to combine a vacation with genuinely good and cost-effective medical services.

This article offers in brief, the description of the ten best destinations in the world that offer superior medical aid to patients who come from a large number of countries across the world.The ten best countries that have been recognised for medical tourism are Lithuania, India, Israel, Costa Rica, Hungary, Egypt, South Africa, Malaysia and Thailand – of course, there are many more.

Lithuania offers stem cell treatment at a lower cost than any of its western counterparts. The Baltics are the best for this kind of treatment, where stem cell transplantation is done to help cancer patients and people suffering from other blood related ailments. Medical tourism flourishes most at the capital of Vilnius, where common treatments and surgeries are also performed, in addition to stem cell transplantation.

While Lithuania attracts a considerable number of people worldwide with its medical treatment services, Turkey also pulls more than 2 lakhs of people annually for treatments like Lasik surgery. And the treatment is not a morose activity at all. City tours and sightseeing activities, after one's treatment is completed, is very much a part of the package.

In India, procedures like hip and joint replacement and Ayurveda treatments are ten times cheaper than in Western countries. A large number of people also come to India for dental surgeries at what would be considered a nominal charge when compared to prices in Western countries.

Again, people come to Israel for its offerings of low cost cancer treatment and special treatments associated with it, while Costa Rica offers age management therapies. Hungary also is not far behind as it has become popular as a medical tourism destination, offering dental procedures at almost 60% less cost than Western prices. In fact the prospects of medical tourism cannot be ignored in Egypt either, where treatments generating from plastic surgery or liposuction cost 60% lesser than in the US or UK.

Other important and upcoming places for medical tourism include South Africa for cardiac treatments, Malaysia for treatment of the eyes and plastic surgery and Thailand for various clinical and surgical procedures.

It is to be noted, that all destinations that offer the benefits and facility of medical tourism are scenic and present attractive destinations that evoke considerable tourist interest.

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Darshana says, "I am an online writerand communication person by profession. I am interested in creating meaningful communication for the web. I am an avid reader."

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