Medical travel more popularly known as medical tourism was coined by mainstream media and travel agencies as a way for these industries to describe the burgeoning business in medical-related healthcare across international borders.
Statistics show that over 50 nations have identified this type of tourism as a part of national industry but one has to admit that quality varies across nations. In some cases, certain destinations can be life threatening for medical tourists. According to history, the first instance of this type of travel goes way back when Greek pilgrims from thousands of years ago went to Epidauria –the sanctuary of Asklepios, the god of healing. Later on, spa towns were deemed to be medical tourist spots. These towns were particularly popular in 18th century England where people with ailments and those who wanted to stay healthy visited these spa towns because of their mineral waters and their capability of treating certain ailments.
Medical tourism did not just sprout out of nowhere in the modern world though nor did it come out from the history books but because of certain factors that have led a number of individuals to travel the world to seek medical attention. But why seek medical attention elsewhere if one can have it done in one’s country? Due to the costs of healthcare in the western world, people from the Western Hemisphere go to places like Asia or the Middle East to seek treatment –treatment that is more affordable. Costs of surgical procedures in countries in the Middle East and Asia only cost a fraction of the price one would have to pay in their own countries. The affordability of international travel also contributed to the growth of the medical tourism industry. Those in the East on the other hand also travel abroad to seek healthcare services not because it is cheaper but because countries in Europe and other parts of the world have the facilities that their countries of origin lack.
Another leading factor to the growth of this industry is the avoidance of waiting times. This reason applies to medical tourists from the UK in particular because even if health services are free, the number of individuals seeking to get seen by a physician are just too many that the system makes it impossible for each patient to be checked by a doctor immediately.
