Medical tourism has been in
vogue for quite sometime,
but has now taken a complete turnaround. Earlier,
people from Asian and African countries used to fly to developed nations
like the US, Germany, etc., due to lack of medical facilities and
specialized medical practitioners for certain ailments in their home countries.
But now, it is the other way round; with people from developed countries
opting Asian and African countries for medical treatment. People from
Europe and the US have started coming to countries like
Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India and South Africa for medical
treatment, often combining it with a holiday. This interesting form of tourism
is receiving a boost not only due to the high quality of healthcare
services, reasonable cost of treatment, easy access of the destination
countries and multilingual knowledge of the doctors, but also due to the
long waiting period for undergoing medical procedures and surgeries in
their home countries.
Medical tourism has thus emerged as a common form of
vacationing and covers a broad spectrum of medical services. It combines
leisure, fun and relaxation together with wellness and healthcare.
According to Dr. Mary Tabacchi, who teaches spa management,
wellness business and healthy cuisine at Cornell University's School of
Hotel Administration (Ithaca, US), health tourism is "any kind of travel
to make yourself or a member of your family
healthier." Medical tourism can be broadly defined as
provision of `cost-effective' private medical care in collaboration with the
tourism industry for patients who are in need of surgical and other forms
of specialized treatment. This process is being facilitated by various
organizations in both the private and public
sectors. |
