Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Why the medical tourism industry must do better...much better


To keep things simple, this blog has moved to the IMTJ web site. You can find the Health Tourism Blog here in future. Here's an extract of the latest blog post entitled: Why the medical tourism industry must do better...much better

Whilst the medical tourism industry continues to sing its own praises and tell itself how great it is.... consumers are telling a different story. The 2011 Medical Tourism Survey being conducted by European Research Specialists on behalf of Treatment Abroad raises some concerns about the quality of treatment and customer service that the industry delivers to patients.

As results of the latest Treatment Abroad Medical Tourism Survey 2011 come in, we’re beginning to get an idea of how patients view the medical tourism experience. So far, we’ve managed to generate 860 responses to the survey from patients who went to more than 60 countries.  Each respondent completes a fairly detailed online survey that takes them around 5-10 minutes. The results are being analysed by an external research market researcher. (Find out more about the Treatment Abroad Medical Tourism Survey 2011). The aim is to generate over 1,000 survey completions to provide valuable insight into the medical tourism experience.

We’ll be releasing the full results and report in 2012, but I have taken a look at the “story so far” provided by the research. The bad news is that since the previous survey was conducted two years ago, the industry hasn’t got any better at what it does. Initial analysis, suggests that it has got worse. Patient satisfaction levels are down. When asked:
  • “How satisfied are you OVERALL with your experience of going to another country for treatment?”
...only 65% of the patients say that they are “Very Satisfied”, and 20% say they are “Quite Satisfied”.
These results are disappointing; they are well below what you see when you research satisfaction levels for patients visiting private hospitals and clinics in their own countries.

.....Continue reading this medical tourism blog post on the IMTJ web site.


5 comments:

medical tourism india said...

The growth in the medical tourism in india market has made significant participation to the appearance of Indian as one of the quickest growing financial systems in the world.

Joe said...

India will soon become THE global health destination. It is replicating the Thai model, which has been the first Asian destination for International Patients. With prices at a fraction of those in the US or EU, the concept has broad consumer appeal. Indian private facilities offer advanced technology and high-quality treatment at par with hospitals in western countries. As millions of people around the world are struggling with increasing healthcare costs and decreasing or nonexistent healthcare insurance coverage, medical tourism in India is the answer and end to all these problems. Providing world-class quality at much cheaper price is the highlight of medical tourism in India.

New Hampshire Seacoast said...

I had a failed trip for this reasons so agree that there most be serious concerns about it!Thanks for sharing.

bettinasmith143 said...

Well, when it comes to health cares, medical tourism is the best way to it. I've been considering it, and I thinks it very practical and very accommodating. Imagine, you can go and relaxing abroad and at the same time you can have you health to that country you choose. My husband and I are planning to go abroad and were going to have a smile make over there also. And while doing that, we need some relaxations and etc...

Best hospital in Malaysia said...

Good question there... Although cost is a big consideration in the trending Medical tourism, the reliability of treatment is by far the FIRST priority. We are talking here about the Life of a human being who wants to be treated and improve his life. I have read that in Asia, Medical tourism in Malaysia is ranked in the top five destinations for health tourism. In fact, The majority of the foreign patients seeking medical treatments in Malaysia are from Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, and West Asia.