Medical tourism

Is a medical travel “facilitator” really necessary?

Posted by Julie Munro on August 19, 2011   |   No Comments

Bangkok HospitalWhen you started thinking about having a treatment abroad, I’m sure you found plenty of hospitals, clinics, doctors and medical tourism agents that all were happy to take your money. Where do you begin?

Some people will plunge right in, to contact what seem to be the best hospitals for them. Often, they find it difficult to communicate with the hospital, and decide to work with a medical tourism company instead. After all, the procedure they need involves travel, so wouldn’t medical tourism companies be able to help?

Other people will look for personal assistance from the beginning to help them select the provider and the specialist they need. Read more…

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Medical tourism a catalyst for change: Vishal Bali, Fortis Healthcare

Posted by Julie Munro on April 12, 2010   |   No Comments

Medical tourism is opening doors to the world for Asia’s hospitals, believes Vishal Bali, CEO of Fortis Healthcare.

Given the Fortis purchase of a significant share of the Parkway hospitals last month, we wondered what this might mean for Asian and global health care.

In an interview with MTQUA, Bali gives us his view of the future of health care. “There is a decentralization of providers from just being in certain regions… Asian hospital groups are now going out and creating their own footprints in the countries and the regions around us.”

Association with brand name western hospitals is no longer important. What now needs to happen, he says, is to “help facilities to move up their quality parameters and to ensure these systems become more efficient.”

Bali also discusses the urgent need of providers and countries to tackle such problems as the looming shortage of health care workers.

Read the press release.

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US Health Reform v. Medical Tourism

Posted by Julie Munro on April 12, 2010   |   No Comments

And the winner in the battle for patients’ hearts and minds is…

Within days of passage of the new US health care reform bill, we already see signs of how it might impact medical tourism in the next few years and beyond.

How will Obamacare, as the new health care program is dubbed, affect medical tourism? The short answer is, just you wait and see.

The longer answer, from many of us with personal experience of the many faces of government supported health care in countries as disparate as Canada, France, Israel, Argentina, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan, is the prognosis is not a healthy one.

Many observers believe the new health care reforms can’t sustain themselves. There are no cost controls. Doctor shortages will be exacerbated. Insurance premiums will skyrocket. Waiting lists for treatments will form and grow. Read more…

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