Medical Tourism Lists Service From America

Medical Tourism Lists Service From America: "edRetreat provides Americans with free comprehensive programs to receive medical treatments abroad.

Chicago, Illinois (PRWEB) January 5, 2006 -- Medical Tourism is definitely a viable option to exorbitant healthcare costs in the U.S., especially for uninsured or underinsured consumers. Much of the attention of this new industry has been focused on the hospitals overseas. However, “before a medical tourist departs the U.S. to their chosen destination, there are a host of issues to consider,” states Patrick Marsek, Managing Director of MedRetreat, LLC, the first U.S. based Medical Tourism Service Agency.

CONSUMER BEWARE! Overseas surgeries should not be attempted alone, without the guidance of a non-biased agency that has performed an exceptional amount of due diligence about the process. All aspects of a successful medical tourism model must be known by anyone seeking this alternative.

MedRetreat has invested several hundred thousand dollars, and, two years of research developing a successful program to offer medical tourists a safe and pleasurable experience. After assisting over 200 clients, MedRetreat is launching a nationwide campaign to attract and service North American consumers interested in receiving their medical procedures overseas.

“To ensure the best interests of our clients are satisfied, we invest approximately 35-40 hours of time with them during the process” claims Marsek. “You are not alone in the process from the time you initially contact us, until you return home from your trip. And, the best part, our services are completely free to our members. We receive compensation from our overseas partners for our role in the process. We have negotiated a 20% discount from the hospitals due to high volume patient flow. We keep 15% and pass 5% along to our members. So, in essence, they will receive a better price than if they tried to do this alone. It’s a no-risk opportunity…and a win-win situation for all concerned.”

MedRetreat offers 183 procedures in cosmetic, dental and general medical surgeries to eleven destinations in seven countries around the world.

MedRetreat continues to be the leading medical tourism service agency in the U.S.

Kerala misses out on Eco Tourism Poll

Go Travel Insurance - Cheap Travel Insurance on the web: "Tanzania has been voted the world's top eco-tourism destination on an online travel poll in January 2006.

The African country came out top as a result of its policy of connecting tourism with responsible activities such as conserving wildlife and promoting work in local communities. Wildlife safaris are hugely popular in Tanzania, accounting for 75 per cent of all tourist activity in the country.

Two other African countries also came in the top three: Kenya, rated highly for similar reasons to Tanzania, and Egypt, more popular as an adventure holiday destination.

Other eco-friendly destinations for the environmentally aware traveller are India, where the southern state of Kerala is proving increasingly popular as a result of its rich mix of cultural and enviromental assets.

Tanzania also did well in another tourism category recently, winning a Torchbearer Award for best performing tourist entity, thanks to its internationally acclaimed Holiday Inn Dar es Salaam. "

US company specialising in European Treatment

By Tisha Powell

(12/19/05 -- RALEIGH) - An estimated 46 million Americans have no health insurance and according to a recent study, high medical bills contribute to almost 750,000 bankruptcies a year.
These startling statistics have many Americans searching for medical care in other countries. One local business is putting American patients in touch with foreign doctors.

More than a year ago, Ann Lombardi's doctor told her she needed cataract surgery. The Raleigh woman was shocked by what he said it would cost.

"I went to other doctors around the Atlanta area and was quoted $7,000," she said.

It was a price Lombardi couldn't afford to pay, even with health insurance. So she called a friend in Germany who arranged for her to have the surgery there for only $1,200.

"It was the most positive medical experience of my life," she said.

Now Lombardi and her friend Tim Vicknair are running "European Medical Tourist" or "EMT." It's a service that helps Americans arrange medical treatment in Europe.

"We look a great deal at the hygienic practices and the clinical practices, the certifications of the physicians and things like that," Vicknair said.

The partners say they are often contacted about heart surgery, gastric procedures and orthopedic surgery.

"An uninsured person in the United States, if they needed a knee replacement it would be about $40,000. In Europe, we can get it done for about 9,000 Euros," Vicnair said.

EMT charges a fee of 7.5 percent of the procedure's cost. Arrangements for follow-up care in the U.S. are made by EMT prior to heading overseas.

Lombardi and Vicknair say they do not give people medical advice, just other options for finding healthcare they can afford.

Experts warn people to be cautious about seeking medical care overseas. An FDA representative said that products and medical devices used in the U.S. are FDA-approved. The agency has no jurisdiction over what is being used in Europe.

RP cashing in on medical tourism boom

A NEW KIDNEY would save an Arab man's life so he went to the Philippines. Not as urgent, an American girl wanting bigger breasts arrived here, too. So did a Korean girl who wanted her eyes bigger and more expressive.

Driven by different medical reasons, foreigners like them have been steadily coming to the country as part of the Philippine Medical Tourism Program started just two years ago.

They come mainly because treatment is much cheaper here than in their respective countries like the United States, according to Undersecretary Jade del Mundo, the Department of Health's pointman on the new program.

Visitors usually seek cosmetic procedures which are mainly available at the Belo Medical Center and Calayan Service Center.

Both clinics fall under the "ambulatory centers" included in the program. They also include the American Eye Center, Asian Eye Institute, and RX Pinoy, a group of doctors involved in medical tourism.

Del Mundo said Asian patients, mostly
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women between 20 and 60, usually go for blepharoplasty to widen the contours of their normally almond eyes. The procedure costs as much as $10,000 (roughly P520,000) in South Korea and Japan, but only around P150,000 in the Philippines.

Liposuction

Also a hit among foreigners are liposuction, nose and face lift, and lasik surgery, a high-end corrective procedure on the cornea. Lasik is only around P60,000, more than half its normal cost abroad, according to Del Mundo.

Life-threatening cases such as coronary artery bypass graft, and kidney and bone marrow transplants are also aplenty, he said.

Heart bypass is worth around P500,000 locally or half the price abroad. Kidney transplant is also much cheaper here at P3 million. Elsewhere, the complicated procedure costs about P7 million, Del Mundo said.

"It's a very promising industry," he told the Inquirer in an interview yesterday.

"It will catapult us to the world stage of medical tourism and it will be a dollar earner. At the same time, it will help stem the tide of brain drain in the Philippines."

Del Mundo predicted that the country would catch up with neighboring countries in the multibillion-dollar global medical tourism industry over the next three years.

Even if India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore started in the late 1990s, it would not be too difficult for the Philippines to bridge the gap, he said. The four countries are the more dominant in Asia in the field of medical tourism.

Compassion, competence

It's just a matter of capitalizing on the country's natural advantages, particularly the compassion and competence of Filipino health professionals, the health official said, adding that command of the English language is also a plus.

"The quality of our doctors and health professionals is very high," he said. "We are very caring and compassionate. We have qualities not found in neighboring countries."

So far, Del Mundo said the medical tourism program has had tourists from South Korea, Japan, and China in Asia, to as far as the United States, and Germany, France, and the Netherlands in Europe.

Kidney donor

Since available kidneys are scarce in the country, foreign patients are asked to "bring your own kidney donor" who is usually a relative or a close friend, according to the undersecretary.

"We don't want Filipinos to be sacrificed in favor of medical tourism," he said.

For serious medical cases, foreigners can choose from five government and five private hospitals being marketed as centers for the local medical tourism program.

They are Capitol Medical Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Medical City, Makati Medical Center, Lung Center, Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney Institute, Philippine Children's Medical Center, and East Avenue Medical Center.

Global retirement village

Besides the international medical tourism industry, the government is also targeting the global "retirement village," Del Mundo said.

By 2010 to 2020, between 500,000 and 3 million Filipino-American retirees are expected to settle in the Philippines and elsewhere.

"There will be a tsunami of Filipino-American retirees and we should be prepared for that," he said.

from INQ7 - http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=62016

Medical checkup of 28 steps cheaper in India than US : NRIs

Medical checkup of 28 steps cheaper in India than US : NRIs: "Medical checkup of 28 steps cheaper in India than US : NRIs

Washington: The concept of medical tourists is fast catching up with the large Indian-American community in the United States as medical examination is very nominal in India than in the US, where the health care system leaves much to be desired.

Other reasons medical tourists find is the improved hygiene at all times while doctors examine the patients. The medical staff also dispose of the used syringes in a machine that instantly incinerated the needles.

In fact, medical tourism is a side effect of globalisation, which has encouraged more international business ties and opened up more frequent flights to far-off destinations. According to a website a long-term resident of California, Hemant Buch, 42, founder of the California Cricket Academy, flew to India last month to recruit coaches for the upcoming youth cricket tournament in Cupertino, California. He made an appointment for an annual check-up at Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad.

The 28-step examination lasted from 0800 hrs to 1500 hrs, providing the medical team with enough time to assess his health in detail. During the phases of the physical, a friendly staffer served him breakfast and beverages. The bill was about 110 dollars.

Buch is among the world's 150,000 so-called ''medical tourists'' who mixed business or pleasure with health care when they travelled to India this year, the website said.

Buch, who grew up in Ahmedabad, immigrated to the United States to pursue a master's degree in engineering at San Jose State University in 1987. Now, he travels to India about three times a year, often because of cricket. For the past two years, Mr Buch has been getting his annual check-up in India.

But now confidence-boosting changes, like improved hygiene, are part of a new government strategy to attract one million additional medical tourists to India by 2010, according to the news reports. India is also promoting its low-cost medical treatments to travel agencies. At the World Travel Market held in London in November, India's tourism ministry for the first time brought along hospital representatives and dedicated 32 of its 212 stalls to the health care industry.

Even though annual check-ups, hip replacements, liver transplants and other procedures in India typically cost just one-tenth to one-fifth of the price paid in Western countries, medical tourism could be lucrative for India. An additional 1 million international patients could bring the country as much as two billion dollars, the government estimates.

Some experts believe medical tourism, which is already growing by 15 per cent annually, will be India's second-largest to boost the economy, after information technology.