For Many Patients Custom Made Medical Travel Is The Only Solution

By Jeffrey Barnes


It is a sad fact that numerous people die every year from diseases and conditions that can actually be treated successfully. This happens because the health systems in their own countries are either inadequate or overloaded, resulting in long waiting lists. In other cases patients simply cannot afford the necessary treatment. These patients, and their loved ones, will often go to great lengths to see help. To this end they approach agents that can design them a package for custom made medical travel.

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 not only the wealthy that travel abroad to seek treatment. Citizens of rich countries with strong currencies often find that a favorable exchange rate can help them to afford treatment in a foreign country with a weak currency. Countries such as South Africa, for example, boast many renowned specialists and facilities, but they have a very weak currency. Fundraising for treatment abroad has also become popular.

Some concerns have been voiced, however. Some critics say that foreign patients with deep pockets are willing to offer large fees to get preferential treatment. This is often to the detriment of other patients. These practices are unethical and unfair, feeding the greed of unscrupulous specialists, hospitals and clinics. Critics want the system to be regulated more rigorously.

This type of traveling should be planned very carefully. It is very important to use an agent that is experienced in this field, that has numerous contacts within the medical fraternity and that can design a flexible package. Tourists seeking treatment do not have fixed itineraries because it is not always possible to predict how long the treatment, recuperation and rehabilitation will take.

The first priority of the health authorities in any country is to make sure that its own citizens have access to quality care. If foreigners seek treatment, they must be treated as just another patient, albeit one that pays more. However, it would be inhumane to deny treatment to any desperately ill person.




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