Surgery Abroad

Medical tourism, as we know it today, is a recent phenomenon where patients travel a distance, mostly to foreign shores for affordable health care. From extremely critical non-elective surgeries to elective procedures like dental implants and plastic surgery, traveling abroad for surgery has been soaring by each passing year. Patients from nations like America, UK and other European nations travel overseas for a number of procedures and surgeries, the most common ones being angiography, biopsy, bowel surgery, cataract surgery, gallbladder removal, hernia repair, coronary angioplasty, arthroscopy, gastric bypass, nose surgery, shoulder scope, toe fusion, knee replacement, tonsils removal and upper endoscopes. Cost of most of these surgeries is estimated to be 60%-80% less than the same procedures in the United States. Also, many of these surgeries are not covered by insurance and most Americans can’t afford the ever increasing high cost of surgeries and hospital stays in their own country. It is the exorbitant price tag of these surgeries in most western countries that has fuelled medical tourism in Asian countries like India, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Moreover, world class medical treatments and facilities, internationally trained faculty, a burgeoning English speaking population and a great infrastructure have ensures that these nations live up to the trust that international patients entrust in them. Apart from getting the best of medical attention pre and post surgeries, surgery abroad also lets one enjoy the leisurely aspect of recuperating in the most refreshing of environs and explore new cultures and landscapes.