What do you need to know before embarking on your medical trip? Traveling to a foreign country for medical care seems daunting, but it can be much easier if you know exactly what you should do before your trip. As your medical travel involves your health, you should think of every detail before your final decision. In this essay, we’ll discuss the key issues you should keep in mind before embarking on your health travel so that you can make informed choices and ensure a safe and successful journey.
Pre-trip consideration
- Choosing a hospital
First step: choosing a hospital
Before starting your medical trip, you should consider several issues. The first important thing is to choose your hospital. You should search about hospital accreditation, its distance, and expenses. You should also inquire about the doctors, facilities, and equipment of the hospital. The whole process is of utmost importance.
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Accreditation
Accreditation acts as a guarantee.
The first thing a patient should check is if the hospital has any international accreditation includes (JCL, ACL, and ACHSI). Accreditation is the best way to ensure strict external evaluation. It also shows that a hospital or clinic cares about delivering quality services to its customer. Most hospitals usually display accreditation information on their website. So you should check their website first.
Accreditation represents a voluntary process by which institutions meet standards established by an external accrediting body. For medical tourism patients, accreditation is insurance that high standards of safety and quality care are in place.
2. Distance
Consider the distance to a medical tourism destination.
In choosing your destination for medical treatment, you should know your own situation, can you tolerate a long flight?! It’s better to consult your local doctor about all the risks involved with air travel. Consider the distance to a medical tourism destination
In case of a debilitating condition don’t choose a far destination
Consult your local doctor about all the risks involved with air travel
3. Expenses
Medical tourism will certainly allow you to save considerably, but you should take into consideration the costs of treatment as well as the routine costs of travel, accommodation, and any unexpected expenses.
Besides the cost of medical treatment, you should consider extra expenses including:
- Traveling and airfare
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Additional complications and overstay
- Visa and passport
- Transportation
- Medical services
- Post-treatment therapies and recuperation
- Pre-post consultation
- tipping
it also recommended that to compare prices between different hospitals.
4. Doctors and hospital staff
In any medical procedure or treatment, it is imperative that you choose the right doctor. You should check the qualifications of the surgeon, his/her education, training and licensure, medical certification and practice, membership, and accreditation in professional associations.
You should find out about any history of malpractice claims and also you can seek recommendations from other sources.
Check the profile of the doctor’s basic training qualification and experience.
In sum, the following issues should be checked:
- When and where they received their medical education and degree
- Professional credentials including licensing and license updating requirements
- Specialization degree, license, and certifications
- Fellowships or post-graduate training courses
- Special training courses they underwent
- Previous and current hospital and clinical employment history
- Languages are spoken and their conversational proficiency
5. Safety profile
Check for safety level for the hospital and any recent infection episodes
undoubtedly, there are risks associated with any surgical procedure regardless of country.
The medical traveler may be at risk for acquiring different diseases such as HIV or infection due to improper use of needles or syringes, or improper sterilization methods.
With adequate research, thorough preparation, and realistic expectation before you leave home, surgery abroad can be safe and deliver quality outcomes.
- Ask the hospital to provide its safety level
- Check for complaints, reviews, and accidents
- Inquire about any recent infectious episodes or inspections by regulatory bodies
6. Facilities
Find out what facilities are provided by a particular hospital
Before booking your ticket, you should inquire about hospital facilities, do they send someone to the airport to pick you up, do they have any translator? Do they provide room for your companion? And what kinds of rooms do they have?
If the hospital does not offer these services, you should search for other ways to acquire them.
You could find a reliable health tourism facilitator to make this complex process much easier.
You should find out bout particular facilities that a hospital provides such as:
- airport pickup
- Language of hospital staff
- Translators
- Kinds of rooms
- Ask if you have to pay extra to obtain certain facilities
7. Medical equipment and technology
Find out all the information related to the procedure you want to get treatment for.
another important factor in choosing a hospital is its medical equipment and technology. You should find out about hospital equipment. You should also know what is the procedure of your treatment and whether they use the latest equipment or not.
A good hospital will often update its equipment with new developments in the medical field.
Inquire about any new technologies or equipment available or any new types or methods of treatment
How to choose the right accommodation?
After your treatment, until your complete recovery, you need a place to stay. Have you thought about it? Choosing the right accommodation is vital because it can affect your health.
Consider the above-mentioned points.
In choosing accommodation, ensure that it is not too far from the hospital. Moreover, your place should be clean and sterile. Unhygienic environments can cause infections.
Food, infection control mechanism, and distance from pharmacies and grocery stores are all important factors that you should consider for choosing your accommodation.
Search about the place you’ll be staying at.
Inquire about the hospital procedure, they discharge the patients as soon as the critical recovery is done or keep them until complete recovery
In any case, you should be well-informed about the nearby lodgings within your budget.
Choosing the right accommodation service or facility is vital:
- Poor choice of accommodation may deteriorate the patient’s health
- The accommodation should be selected based on the patient’s particular treatment for example one who has had orthopedic surgery must ensure that he avoids taking the stairs.
Important factors in selecting the right accommodation for the medical tourist
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Distance from hospital
It should not be too far; it should have quick access to medical service
And Ensure the minimum physical strain for the patient
- Distance from the recuperation facility
- Hygiene standards
- Food
- Distance from the grocery store and pharmacy
- Infection control mechanisms
Medical visa
If you want to travel to other countries to receive medical care, you need a visa.
The task of arranging a medical tourism visa might seem daunting at first, but with good planning and adequate time for regulatory bodies to process your documents, the process is not tedious.
In fact, many governments are increasingly making the process of issuing medical visas easier.
A medical visa is an authentication issued to an individual allowing him to enter the nation for a particular amount of time and for the purpose of medical treatment.
In general, getting a vis depends on the country you live
Apply for a visa before booking your flight
Each country determines its own process for visa applications and approval, so check it online.
Insurance and finance
Insurance is an important aspect of your medical trip.
Although there are a lot of insurances available to choose from, several private insurance systems do not carry expenses for medical travel. Therefore, if you are planning to go on healthcare tourism, you should seek other means to get financing.
There are a lot of medical tourism insurance to choose from.
International medical tourism insurance is meant for people who wish to seek healthcare security outside of their country.
Understanding and deciding on the current insurance policy is the most important aspect of medical treatment abroad. It ensures that your travel I hassle-free.
here are more guides for medical tourists:
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