Excerpts from Session on Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism – Terms, Trends, Opportunities and Issues – World Congress Middle East

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Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism—Terms, Trends, Opportunities and Issues

 

Dr Prem Jagyasi

Healthcare worldwide is struggling from severe crises. These crises are driven by several different factors in each country. For example, US suffers from high cost and high levels of uninsured population, UK has a lack of private participation and high waiting times, Japan has a very old population and over hospital stay. Crises are related to affordability-high cost of healthcare, accessibility with high waiting time and lack of availability in under developed countries. All healthcare systems are based on managing and treating care, lack of preventive measures worldwide which could be a way to lower healthcare costs. This global healthcare crises is a reason individuals seek out for alternate options. This is one of the basis’s of medical tourism as they seek out other alternative around the world that have lower costs, yet high quality (as set by accreditations and regulations). dr prem Highlighted sevral factors, opportunities and challanges. He also demonstarted a video based on medical tourism destinations.

 

Dr. Saad Zemmouri: Middle East Medical Tourism

 

Believes the statement of providing the highest quality of healthcare in the lowest cost as possible. Two categories for medical tourism: the medical, pathological aspect (surgical, dental) and the wellbeing and wellness terms (spa’s, thermal waters). Instead of calling it a niche market as it takes up a small sector of the healthcare system, it is actually a global market because it targets every country in the world.

 

There needs to be a fundamental global approach of cooperation between all operations in the field of medical tourism—need to be a synchronized approach of providing healthcare involving everyone from governments, facilitators, healthcare organizations, accreditations. Bumbrugrand in Thailand are one of the key medical tourism destinations in the world that have been accredited by the JCI and see several thousands of medical tourists every year.

 

Jack Horasy: US & Canadian Medical Tourism

 

Medical tourists is someone who travels from their native health system to receive medical services elsewhere.  

 

As  much as providers see medical tourism as an opportunity, those going out of those economic systems are perceived as a loss—how Americans, brits and Canadians responded to this situation. Canadian vs. Brit system—Canada contracted with US providers and pre-approve patients to leave the country, Britain on the other hand invited a private sector to be created in their own country.  Canada has looked at the possibility of serving Americans for medical tourists-e.g. procedure for hernia repair

 



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