Health ‘tourism’ with Brits flying abroad for ops now worth £2bn. by Danny Buckland, Daily Mirror 10/02/2011
HEALTH tourism has never been so popular – and is worth £2billion a year.
More than 60,000 Brits go abroad each year for operations ranging from nose jobs to heart bypass surgery – with the added bonus of combining them with a holiday.
Hospitals and clinics around the world pitch for business with rock-bottom prices and inducements from travel brochures.
Savings are the main attraction – with breast augmentation halved from its UK list price of £4,750.
But standards vary from brilliant surgeons to the US system of “office surgery”.
And Britons have been warned that post-operative complications can lead to misery and added costs.
Leading plastic surgeon Simon Withey said: “Flying out for an operation is far from ideal. You are asking for trouble.”
