Many patients across the world travel to foreign countries seeking more affordable and better-quality surgeries. Large corporate hospitals in developing countries offer top quality surgeries at much cheaper prices to patients from other developing and developed nations. The key attractions here are cost-effectiveness, medical expertise, latest technology and quality of care. For many patients traveling abroad for surgery becomes inevitable. There are many destinations that offer top quality surgeries and hence there are many options to choose from. But when one should decide to travel abroad for surgery ? How to choose a destination or surgeon or a hospital for surgery ?
Doing our homework
At first, we should always look for options in our home country. It is just that we may not be aware of locally available options. It is better to meet few local doctors and discuss with them so that we know what our medical problem is all about and understand what surgical procedure is required for us. We need to analyze whether it is more feasible to get the surgery done in our home country or get it done elsewhere. We should gather as much information as possible and should not hesitate to take opinions from multiple doctors. In the process of availing multiple opinions, we will get more clarity. After doing our research, if we find that there are no good options available and we come across inadequately skilled staff or ill-equipped hospitals, prohibitive costs of surgery or long waiting lines for treatment then it is better to look elsewhere for the surgery. Let us do our homework well enough before we decide to travel abroad for surgery.
Identifying the destination
Once we have decided to travel to a foreign country for surgery, studying the geographical proximity, identifying if the hospitals in the destination countries that have the required expertise and skill to perform surgery, comparing cost of surgery with other destinations and calculating total costs is a very important step in medical travel. We should always check the accreditation status of the hospitals and also the merit of the accreditation body. It is important to be sure of the standard of care before we travel all the way to the destination for surgery. Checking accreditation is a good way to ensure a good quality of surgery and care. Hospitals that are accredited from an external body, will have to ensure a high standard of care up to international standards. In a majority of cases, accredited medical institution won’t hire unlicensed doctors, but it is still imperative to research the surgeons and doctors that will be doing the surgery. A methodical search of the internet will yield all the information needed, or at the very least, let you know about any important warning signs. It would be better to ask for previous patients details and speak to them about their experiences. First ask if their surgery was successful, in addition ask about the pre and post-operative care, if they had any complications and how easy it was to get the required medications.
Cost of medical travel
The tentative treatment plans and the cost estimates that we may get from several sources may not be the total cost of medical travel. In most of the cases it is the hospital package for surgery. It does not include our flight charges, VISA charges, internal transfers, post-hospital discharge medicines and hotel charges. Further the package is restricted to certain number of days in a certain room category of the hospital. Whenever a cost estimate for the surgery is given, it is very necessary to understand what is included and not included in the cost estimate so that we do not get any surprise when we finally reach the hospital. Hence, apart from package cost for surgery, we may have to make a provision for certain other costs too.
Knowing our options
Knowing our options and having complete information about various aspects of medical travel are very important before we travel to a foreign land for surgery. Decision making becomes challenging since many questions remain unanswered – Do we really need a surgery? Is the diagnosis correct? What is the cost of surgery? Who is the right surgeon? Which is the right hospital? and the list goes on. There is no single source of information that can help us to find answers to our questions and hence in many cases we may have to rely on unreliable sources of information instead of getting opinions from qualified and experienced surgeons.
We can know our options only when we get opinions from multiple surgeons. But finding and getting opinions from multiple surgeons may be a time consuming, stressful and an expensive affair. Getting appointments after appointments and running from one hospital to another is not an easy task. Things become more complicated when we want opinions from those surgeons who are in another city or country.
Today many patients travel out of their home country in search of advanced and affordable medical care. For them finding the right surgeon or hospital in the destination country may not be that easy. Most of the times, the we are not aware of surgeons or hospitals in a foreign country and without having proper information, it is not advisable to travel to any random destination or hospital for surgery. Usually, when we do not have much information, we do online search, visit many different websites, share our personal and medical information several times with different random websites, get opinions and cost estimates from them, compare things and then make a choice to visit a surgeon/ hospital for surgery. We may also ask recommendations from friends, relatives or office colleagues and here things become more relevant only if they have personally experienced medical travel. It is a lengthy and stressful process and still the decision making is not that easy because every website tries to sell a particular hospital or surgeon or surgery.
Preparations for surgery travel
- Firstly, we need to get travel details such as mode of transport, passport, visa, vaccination certificates ( if any ) and insurance requirements.
- It is advisable to keep a checklist of documents that would be needed in the foreign country for visiting the country as well as for the necessary surgery.
- It is best to take accompanying friend or a family member as our attendant with us.
- Study the travel guides, Google maps (online) or hard copy maps for the city along with hospital guides, hotels and restaurants.
- Get the necessary medical information about the surgery, what exactly it would entail and know the specialists and sub-specialists in hospitals.
- It is best to have a coordinator from the destination hospital and stay in touch with him or her.
- Collect contact information like hospital contacts numbers, hospital e-mails, hospital exact address and fax numbers.
- You should contact the hospital for insurance contracts and analyze whether you will need to pay for your surgery by yourself or if you can be covered by insurance.
- Get your medical consultations and give the hospital your complete medical history. Formulate a necessary plan of action with your doctors so you know your approximate time of stay and duration of recovery period.
- Make travel and stay arrangements accordingly.
Traveling to some of the leading healthcare destinations may bring numerous benefits to the patients. Traveling to another country or location for surgery is a reasonably priced alternative to ever-increasing costs of health care. Getting high quality treatment at low cost as compared to the home country is the very basis behind traveling for surgery. Patients have a privilege of personalized attention. This means shorter waiting times with quicker and professional service soon upon their arrival. Surgery can be scheduled within a few days to weeks ensuring the patient’s convenience. Highly skilled and experienced medical professionals are involved in the treatment. Patients can take the advantage of sophisticated technology at low cost, besides that of highly skilled manpower as well.
Patients traveling for surgery have some very common concerns. One of the main concerns is the follow-up care. For follow-up care, patients can always be in touch with their surgeons or the hospitals via phone or email. Some hospitals even arrange for video call if required. Patients sometimes are also worried about the language barrier but the medical staff in most of the leading medical travel destinations do manage to speak fluent English. For other than English language, they can arrange for language interpreters. Going to foreign country for surgery comes with its own risks as the country we go to may not have regulation for professional licensing and certification of the medical professionals. Serious complications like blood clots or pulmonary embolism could result if a patient has to travel and return home right after surgery. Patients may even suffer from swelling and/or infections due to the change of place, climate & environment. In certain cases, the cost of surgery may also vary drastically from the estimates given earlier. Hence choosing the right destination, surgeon and hospital is crucial. For this we should know our options and have complete information.
Finding the solution
There is a wide range of hospitals being set up at various destinations that excel at global health care and focus on complex medical problems. In the current scenario, online medical travel platforms are gaining popularity as they help people seek a comprehensive knowledge on healthcare products in search of getting high quality treatment at low cost. These online platforms help patients by evaluating the health tourism products and providers of the country and assess the competitive advantage over others in administering health care. It is advisable to formulate a clear plan with help from online platforms before you opt for and make a treatment plan in healthcare destinations.
Anybody may need any surgery at any point of time but when a surgery is required, we should know about the options that are available to us in order to make an informed choice. Many of us may not know that we can find surgeons and hospitals online and avail opinions, information and cost estimates for the surgery. Now it is easy to find, reach and get opinions from multiple surgeons on a single online platform called Hinfoways. Hinfoways is a healthcare platform to find surgeons for surgery. It is a platform where patients from different parts of the world can search surgeons from different locations, avail medical opinions from one or multiple surgeons, gather necessary information, make comparisons and then choose a surgeon for surgery.
At Hinfoways, the patients can share their medical details and reports with multiple surgeons from different hospitals and locations at one go. Henceforth the patients need not do a random online search and approach many different websites or surgeons or hospitals, keep sharing their personal and medical information and make random decisions. Instead, on Hinfoways they can find, reach and opinions from multiple surgeons from different hospitals on a single platform. At Hinfoways, patients can compare things and then make an informed choice.
At the moment, there are many patients from different parts of the world who are traveling to other countries for surgeries. They are looking for high quality, affordable and advanced surgeries. Many of them are finding it hard to find surgeons or hospitals and get connected to them for availing treatment plan/medical opinion, cost estimates and other relevant information. Such patients can use Hinfoways as one single platform to find surgeons and get medical opinions and other relevant information.
Over a period of time, Hinfoways will add more and more surgeons and hospitals from some of the leading healthcare destinations in the world so that patients can have as many options as possible. Patients can either have treatment in their home country or travel elsewhere for advanced medical treatment but by using a platform like Hinfoways they may know their options, avail information and compare things before making a choice.
In the long run, Hinfoways will address many challenges that the patients face in making healthcare decisions. With Hinfoways, patients can make informed healthcare choices. Now patients can find surgeons and get expert medical opinions from multiple surgeons on hinfoways.com.
Disclaimer: The content provided here is meant for general informational purposes only and hence SHOULD NOT be relied upon as a substitute for sound professional medical advice, care or evaluation by a qualified doctor/physician or other relevantly qualified healthcare provider.