Tuesday 9 October 2012

What is Medical or Health Tourism

Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare) is really a term initially coined by travel agencies and themass media to explain the rapidly-growing practice of travelling across international borders to acquire health care. It also refers pejoratively towards the practice of healthcare providers travelling internationally to provide healthcare.[1][2]

Services typically sought by travelers include elective procedures in addition to complex specialized surgeries for example joint replacement(knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries. However, just about any type of health care, including psychiatry, alternative treatments, convalescent care as well as burial services are available.

50 plus countries have identified medical tourism like a national industry.[3] However, accreditation along with other measures of quality vary widely around the world, and some destinations may become hazardous or perhaps dangerous for medical tourists.

Poor global health, “medical tourism” is a pejorative because during such trips medical service providers often practice outside of their special areas of practice or hold different (i.e., lower) standards of care.[4][5] Greater numbers than in the past of student volunteers, health professions trainees, and researchers from resource-rich countries will work temporarily and anticipating future operate in resource-starved areas.[5][6] This emphasizes the significance of understanding this other definition.

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