Logistical coordinator

Logistical coordinator is a more professional term than medical tourism provider and their numbers are increasing rapidly.

What ever be the terminology statistics show that it is boom time for them. The healthcare costs in the US and other countries are working to their advantage and more are entering the field to do the ground work for potential patients who want to go to countries like India, Thailand, Brazil and even china to name a few for their treatment.

Hospitals in the US are willing to lend a helping hand to set up the best medical infrastructure in such medical tourism destinations.

Patients travelling abroad will not be doing so at their own risk in the future perhaps, when bigger players enter the field as service providers.

Gold Rush

Ayurveda Anyone?

The arrival of the monsoons in Kerala, south India, heralds the beginning of the Ayurveda season. (Ayurveda is an ancient system of healthcare native to India).

The Indian government is sparing no efforts to sell medical tourism and had showcased monsoon tourism and Ayurveda at a recently concluded exhibition in the UAE.


As elsewhere in the world, India is promoting medical tourism and is already a popular destination.


Ayurveda in Kerala

Elective Procedures and Much More

The Philippines government is leaving no stones unturned to promote medical tourism. It recently sent a delegation to the US to showcase what the Philippines has to offer in terms of medical care.

Medical tourism in the Philippines seems to comprise of a lot of attractive things especially their prices, so obviously the delegation should prove a fruitful venture.

Medical tourism is the magic word today. Competition is stiff, so every effort is needed to stay ahead.


Medical Tourism in the Philippines

Health for All?

India is a leading medical tourist destination. Patients from the western and the Arab countries flock to India because the private sector hospitals in this country assure them state of the art treatment by highly skilled and trained doctors in their respective fields. Everybody including the government is promoting medical tourism - a top revenue earner.

In this glowing scenario what is the role of medical care in relation to the ordinary Indian patient.

Well,'75% of the hospitals in the country are in the private sector, which are out of reach for the common masses'.The health care delivery to about 85% of the population is very poor. Only 10% of the urban population enjoys all the modern medical facilities provided by private hospitals, while corporate hospitals are available only to 5% of the urban population.”

In such a situation the very concept of medical tourism itself is contemptible.



Disgraceful

The Losers in Medical Tourism

Medical tourism is a boon to the average westerner. He can travel abroad to a hospital where he can avail of medical treatment/medical procedures under the care of skilled doctors trained in some of the most reputable medical colleges in the west. And all this in a hospital which has five star facilities; the treatment might also include recuperation at a holiday resort. There seem to be no losers ; not the hospitals, the patients, the travel agencies or the hoteliers.

But indeed there are losers. They are the patients in countries like India and Thailand who visit the public hospitals.

There will be repercussions in the not so distant future when the patients in such countries realize that they are losing out on medical care because of medical tourism.

Is it fair?.

What an Irony

The American citizen is travelling abroad for affordable healthcare. High insurance premiums and escalating cost of medical procedure have promoted medical tourism.

Meanwhile back home in the US at least 84 hospitals have been forced to shut down because they had to provide free treatment to foreigners who could not afford the bill.The foreigners leave the hospital and the country after their treatment, safe in the knowledge that the hospital will not track them down.




Medical tourism in Reverse

The Golden Palm Award

The Golden Palm award is conferred at the Cannes Retina festival for the best scientific movie and selection of best scientific procedures.

It is in recognition of the efforts made in the modernization of ophthalmology.





Ophthalmology news

To Hell with Scruples

The medical tourism industry is booming in India. More patients from the west are flocking multi specialty institutes in India to avail of quality treatment at a fraction of what it would cost them in their own countries. Hospitals and doctors are growing in fame and wealth.

The poor in India as elsewhere get the raw end of the deal. While multi specialties give premium care to the wealthy who flock to their doors, the poor are meted out callous treatment. Unnecessary procedures are forced on them and they are made to buy more expensive medicines where cheaper ones are available.
Whatever rules and regulations exist can be easily contravened.Make money. Who cares about the poor.



Help your neighbour become rich

Riding the wave

The economic benefits of Medical Tourism are not limited to the hospitals concerned but are shared by various industries in the community. Jacksonville can be considered as an example to highlight this aspect.

Medical tourism is already a money maker for the First Coast economy. In the first half of 2006, according to data available from the Health Planning Council of North Florida, more than 10,300 people traveled to the region for inpatient care, 12 percent of all inpatient admissions at area hospitals.
Mayo Clinic and its affiliated St. Luke's Hospital feed business to about 30 hotels in the Beaches and Southside area.

Treatment often extends for weeks, and the visiting patients and their families funnel millions of dollars into the community annually on medical care, lodging, food and entertainment.
It is also an ideal destination for medical conventions. It has adequate infrastructure like exhibit space and hotel rooms. The concentration of businesses interests the attendees. Expenses are reduced because local industry experts can be recruited to speak at the event; this saves on the cost of flying in an expert.

Jacksonville may not top the list for the biggest and most number of hospitals. It is rather a combination of various things that has led to its popularity as a medical destination.

Jacksonville's success

Setting Up Codes

Medical tourism might have made health care more affordable, but at a cost. Patients opting to go abroad for cheaper treatment were doing so at their own risk. Now with the setting up of The International Healthcare Facilitators Association (TIHFA), which will initiate regulations and guidelines for health care facilitators (HCFs), and their affiliated hospitals, and physicians perhaps they are not so much at risk.

TIHFA's objectives are sound enough. It aims at minimizing risks associated with any medical-related industry and improves and regulates the quality of HCFs. It will lay down strict codes of conduct and a financial bond will be required to become a member of the organization.

The setting up of THIFA should bring in some legality into the field of medical tourism where very often ethics seems to have become defunct.

THIFA will regulate ...