Why Patients Resort To Custom Made Medical Travel Plans

By Jeffrey Barnes


Despite the fact that so many diseases have been conquered during the past few decades, many thousands of people still die from those very diseases each year. This may be because they do not have access to proper facilities or specialists, because there are very long waiting lists or because they cannot pay for the treatment. This situation has given birth an entire industry helping patients to seek treatment in foreign countries. To this end, custom made medical travel plans have to be designed.

There is nothing new about the idea of traveling abroad to seek treatment. The concept is as old as mankind itself. In ancient times there were very few healers and some of them enjoyed an enviable reputation far beyond their own countries. People used to suffer great hardship on order to travel to these healers in the hope that their lives may be saved. Traveling to holy places with healing powers was also very popular.

In modern times, traveling abroad for treatment has become a huge industry and some tourism operators specialize in designing special packages for this type of tourist. Desperately ill people will go to any length to get help if it is not readily available in their own countries. People facing death have only one priority and that is to do whatever is necessary to stay alive.

It is not just patients facing death that seek treatment abroad as a last resort. The world is a small place and experts and specialists that enjoy a high rate of success and the respect of their international colleagues are often in high demand. Those that can afford it will pay to get the very best treatment, regardless of where they need to go to get it. In other cases, ill patients will go abroad to seek experimental treatment.

It is a misconception that only rich people can afford foreign treatment. Patients from first world countries, even those with a very average income, often enjoy a very favorable exchange rate when they travel to countries with weak currencies. Many countries with weak currencies boast world class medical facilities and top specialists. South Africa, for example, leads the world in several fields of medicine.

Some experts have warned that travelling to other countries for treatment raise a number of ethical questions. Critics say that many doctors and hospitals will give preference to foreign patients because they can pay more. This preferential treatment can easily be to the detriment of local patients that are dependent upon public health systems. Critics also say that the system is not properly regulated.

Seeking medical treatment abroad should be approached very carefully and it is highly advisable to use an agent that has ample experience in this field. Care should be taken that the facilities and doctors involved are reputable and experienced. The itinerary will need to be flexible because it is not possible to say just how long the patient will have to remain at the treatment facility or how long recuperation will take.

It is easy to understand why people will sacrifice a lot and travel long distances in the hope of finding effective treatment for life threatening conditions. When facing the possibility of death, nothing else really matters. However, it would be wrong if this type of tourism prohibit local citizens from getting proper treatment themselves.




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