Indian Hospitals, Wellness and Medical Tourism players join forces to make India the Global Healthcare Destination - Indian Medical Travel Associatio

Leading Indian Hospitals, Healthcare providers (both Modern Medicine and Traditional Indian Medicine), Travel and Medical Tourism Industry providers have come together to form an industry association - Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA) that aims to work together to make India the leading global healthcare destination.

The phenomenon now popularly known as Medical Tourism is often cited as the next big opportunity for India after the IT outsourcing to earn billions of dollars in forex earnings and create jobs in the healthcare sector. So far only a select group of Indian hospitals have been making valiant attempts to market their services in international arena. More than a million overseas patients already treated at top Indian corporate hospitals like Apollo, Fortis, Wockhardt, Max, Manipal and many others have already proved to the world that the clinical quality, technology and cost proposition offered by India is unmatched. The capacity in super specialty segment Indian hospitals is expanding fast and there is no waiting period for local or overseas patients.

CII Mc'Kinsey study first reported on medical tourism as the billion dollar opportunity for India way back in 2002 and the steady growth in overseas patient arrivals has validated the potential. With a large number of new private super specialty hospitals and even integrated health cities coming up in India's top ten cities, India has the potential to become the global leader in the Medical Travel/ Outsourcing industry. Indian doctors and professionals are world renowned for their skills and the country has abundance of all the inputs like talented young manpower, local high quality manufacturing base for pharmaceuticals, technology hardware and software that makes the Indian costs for high end surgical procedures so attractive. The challenge really is on the non medical side, primarily on the marketing front and also to create infrastructure and services to support the growth of medical tourism.

Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA) - a non profit body and a unified voice of the Indian healthcare (modern medicine as well as traditional Indian medicine) and travel industry is aimed at preparing India for facing the challenges of global competition and actualise the tremendous opportunity for India to become a leading global healthcare destination. Modern medicine as well as India's 5000 year old traditional therapies like Ayurveda, Siddha and Yoga can offer to the world an unbeatable healing package.

"IMTA would strive to help its members reach out in a cost effective manner to millions of our potential global consumers who reside on the other side of the globe in a different time and cultural zone and make them aware of the tremendous value that Indian healthcare offers. The fact is that prior to choosing a hospital, the international patients first decide on the country or the destination. Therefore we all must join hands to aggressively promote INDIA as a preferred global healthcare destination," Says Pradeep Thukral, Executive Director, Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA)

The Government of India and its various arms are actively supporting the growth of medical tourism to India. In a message to IMTA, the Union Tourism Minister, Kumar Shailaja conveyed “This is indeed a commendable initiative and we all know the tremendous opportunity  that Medical Tourism presents for India. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, I would like to provide all possible support this industry initiative  and would like to wish IMTA and its members great success in their efforts.

Two years ago the Government of India introduced a special category of Visa called M Visa for foreigners desirous of coming to India for medical treatment. India's Ministry of Tourism has achieved phenomenal success in last five years with its much acclaimed "Incredible India "campaign that has multiplied the arrival of foreign tourists to India. The current year 2009 is being promoted by Indian Ministry of Tourism as "Visit India'" year and the ministry is keen to promote Medical Tourism. It has recently notified the Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme to eligible Medical Tourism players which enables them to get financial support for participation in overseas promotional events.

VEIOVIS LAUNCHES MEDICAL TRAVEL WEB PORTAL

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Veiovis, a global leader in overseas health care facilitation, launches its online presence with a medical travel web portal.

The exclusive website is custom-built for existing and potential Veiovis partners: patients, employers and health insurers from around the world seeking accessible and affordable first-rate health care solutions.

“Harnessing the Internet to make medical travel more reachable and viable for consumers underlies the intuitive design of www.veiovis.com,” says Gina Ramos, Director of Business Development for Veiovis. “The crisis of affordability and access in American health care, coupled with the crisis in the global economy, continue to push in on American households. These pressures are radically changing the way Americans spend their money, cultivating a new consumerism and appetite for high quality, cost-efficient medical solutions beyond our shores, ushering a new age of ‘globalization’ in health care that is best fostered on the Web.”

Veiovis charts its territory as a health care management expert. Its inherited legacy - TakeCare Insurance Company 35-year experience in health insurance, clinic operations and overseas patient care facilitation - safeguards prime medical resources and services and assures positive results for all partners.

As a global network administrator and travel supervisor, Veiovis connects patients to advanced medical facilities in Asia, Hawaii, the continental United States and the Pacific Northwest. The website is an intuitive exploration into ‘Veiovis Territory’. It illustrates the reach of the Veiovis global network and the key areas of strength and expertise of each internationally accredited provider.

Visitors to the site will be pleased to discover a host of services and medical treatments offered at state-of-the-art facilities abroad, each employing highly credentialed physicians and specialists. Centers of Excellence boast modern equipment and strong research foundations, some with professional affiliations to Harvard and Stanford Medical in the United States. International offices with English-speaking staff and language translators assure ease of communication, while Veiovis Personal Case Managers manage the entire medical travel process from a local and global perspective.

Veiovis’ brand of seamless, integrated care provides superior value to patients, employers and health insurers. It facilitates safe, convenient and guaranteed travel for overseas medical care.

The benefits of medical tourism and why medical travel is recommended

Medical tourism is a booming industry. Medical travel essentially means traveling to a different location, generally a different country for getting medical aid. Medical tourism is not a new concept. The Greeks and Egyptians traveled to hot springs and other such salubrious places in order to get health benefits. This age old practice of medical travel has now become a blossoming industry.

Medical aid in the US is a highly expensive proposition. There are millions of Americans today who are either uninsured or are only partly insured. This lack of proper health insurance coverage makes it very difficult for the ordinary man to get medical treatment in the US due to the exorbitant costs. This is the reason many Asian and Middle East countries are proving to be great places for the medical travel industry. The inconvenience which a medical traveler faces as he has to travel to a new country fades into insignificance when weighed against the various benefits that he enjoys.

Countries like India and some other Asian and Middle Eastern countries are coming up with amazing facilities which they offer for medical tourism.

In order to cater to the demands of people coming from US, UK, Canada and other European countries, the nations offering medical travel are coming up with highly luxurious hospitals with the best health care anywhere in the world. The medical facilities available in these countries are in no way inferior to those available in the European countries. The medical cost is almost 75 to 90 percent lower than US and UK in these Asian countries which offer medical tourism.

There are several reasons which attribute to the success of the medical travel concept. The most common reason for undertaking medical tourism is the money which can be saved by getting oneself treated in an Asian country as opposed to a European. Although this is an important factor, it is by no means the only one.

Many people who undertake medical travel find the doctors much more approachable in the Asian and Middle Eastern countries. It is easier to get answers to your questions from a doctor who takes a personal interest in you and gives you his undivided time and attention rather than from a doctor who is so bogged down by so many patients that personalized attention and care is alien to him. Such overloaded doctors are generally very common in the western countries, while the health facilities which offer medical tourism ensure that they have more patient and caring doctors.

The countries offering medical tourism take a lot of pains to ensure smooth transition for the medical travelers into the new place. There are several businesses which exist in these countries whose sole purpose is taking care of every comfort of a medical traveler. Right from picking them from the airport to providing them with a local translator, everything is taken care of by these businesses.

 

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Medical Tourism Author by : Patrick W. Marsek We Have More Tourism Guide Book in : BookmanClub. ....

Medical Tourism for Overseas Surgery - Medical Travel Industry Surges Despite Recession

In these recessionary times, almost every industry is seeing significant losses.

Not so with medical tourism.

Hospitals specializing in medical tourism report seeing a 30 percent increase in business from international patients last year.

Discounting other nationalities, The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions estimated the number of Americans that traveled abroad for healthcare in 2007 at 750,000.  As money gets tighter, more people are opting to travel long distances to save on their healthcare bills. Current research indicates that more than one million Americans are traveling overseas to receive medical treatment.

While traveling abroad for medical care is not a new concept, it is only in the past few years that the medical tourism industry has exploded.  International hospitals in foreign countries began focusing their marketing efforts on global clientele and medical tourism companies like MedTrava were created to help fill the gap between the patient’s need for information, support, and assistance and the hospital’s ability to devote its valuable resources to this area.

With the current state of the U.S. healthcare system, it’s no wonder that many uninsured Americans are eschewing medical care in their home country in favor of medical tourism. More than 47 million Americans are uninsured and nearly 120 million Americans are underinsured. The statistics for certain states are appalling. Only 76.1 percent of Texans and 79.9 percent of New Mexicans were insured as of 2007.  Worse still, only 81 percent of Mississippians and 81.5 percent of Texans could get medical care when they needed it.  
President Obama recognizes the problems inherent in the U.S. system of healthcare, saying "Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve -- it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer."

But with no clear idea of how the administration will pay for the estimated $630 billion price tag for its proposed reform, and with Republicans remaining vehemently opposed to nationalized healthcare, it could be a long while until Obama can make good on his promise of “It’s time to deliver.”

In the meantime, more and more Americans will continue to feel the pinch of healthcare bills.  A recent Harvard University study reveals that medical bills play a factor in more than 62 percent of all bankruptcies.

And it’s not only the uninsured that are affected by hefty medical bills; 78 percent of those citing medical bills as a reason for filing bankruptcy were actually insured.

Part of this reason is the ever-increasing share of the medical bill insured consumers are expected to pay. According to a survey by the National Opinion Research Center and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, the annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for an insured worker increased 34 percent between 2004 and 2007.

The researchers recognized this problem and stated in their report, "in the United States, if you are sick and earn a modest income, then you are probably underinsured -- even if you have employer-based health coverage."

Health Insurance premiums have risen 73 percent since 2000, according to the National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC).  Employers and insurance companies are forced to more closely scrutinize their health plans to contain the high costs. Employers are now covering fewer employees, reducing the number of covered procedures and increasing co-pays and co-premiums. In fact, the NCHC states that employee contributions have increased 145 percent since 2000.

Many insured individuals in this situation find that they can save more money by traveling abroad for their treatment than they can by paying these hefty co-pays. Some have been pleasantly surprised to find that their insurance company will reimburse them for part of their medical travel.

While many medical travelers take advantage of cost savings for dental treatments, facelifts and liposuction, a growing number are opting for open heart surgery and orthopedic procedures like hip or knee replacements overseas. Medical tourism can also allow a patient to take advantage of procedures difficult to receive in the U.S.  Surgeries such as Birmingham hip resurfacing and cervical disc replacement were only recently approved by the FDA, so overseas surgeons can have years more experience than U.S. surgeons on these techniques. Procedures like stem cell treatment are also available in some foreign countries.

However, the bulk of the treatments medical tourists are seeking include orthopedics, cardiology, and dental.  Patients are able to save up to 80 percent in these fields and receive superior treatment over what they would probably have been able to afford in the U.S. Quality of care at  hospitals is comparable in quality to those in the United States. The Joint Commission International, an arm of the organization that accredits American hospitals has accredited nearly 200 hospitals overseas. Many doctors and surgeons are English-speaking and have trained at Western medical schools and teaching hospitals.

Medical travel companies can help expedite and facilitate a patient’s treatment. Once a patient contacts a medical tourism facilitator like MedTrava, it can connect them to carefully selected, pre-qualified providers and fast-track the sending of the patient’s medical records and set up a conference call with an overseas surgeon in days.

Surgery can be scheduled in as quickly as two weeks, and the medical travel facilitator can assist the patient with every aspect of their medical travels, from visa and passport assistance to arranging for a patient care manager, driver, cell phone, and hotel in the destination country.

While traveling abroad for surgery is not usually a person’s first choice, the quality of medical treatment available abroad is at an all time high—in some cases, superior to what is available in the United States. And in these days of a recession with no end in sight, being able to save 80 percent on anything without sacrificing any quality is a much-needed reprieve.

 

Patients Beyond Borders Taiwan Edition: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Care Abroad (Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-) Author by : Josef Woodman We Have More Tourism Guide Book in : BookmanClub. ....

Cervical Cancer Surgery in India at Low Cost Facilitated by Medical

Cancer surgeons in Indian hospitals are certified and have more than five to ten years of experience. Cervical Cancer surgery hospitals in India at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore have English speaking and well trained medical staff that cares for its patients. The doctors and cancer surgeons in India at these hospitals are adept in dealing with complicated and emergency situations The advanced and cutting edge medical facilities available at Cervical cancer surgery hospitals in India makes them a reliable global destination for patients who are seeking a suitable and less cost option for recovery from Cervical cancer. Medical Tourism Company in India can be broadly defined as health holiday along with a provision for cost effective medical and surgical treatment according to the patient need. It also combines the wellness and healthcare along with the leisure and relaxation of the rejuvenating the person in all aspects.

Cervical Cancer Causes

Cervical cancer begins with abnormal changes in the cervical tissue. The risk of developing these abnormal changes has been associated with certain factors, including previous infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), early sexual contact, multiple sexual partners, cigarette smoking, and taking oral contraceptives (birth control pills).

Forms of HPV, a virus whose different types cause skin warts, genital warts, and other abnormal skin and body surface disorders, have been shown to lead to many of the changes in cervical cells that may eventually lead to cancer.

Genetic material that comes from certain forms of HPV has been found in cervical tissues that show cancerous or precancerous changes.

In addition, women who have been diagnosed with HPV are more likely to develop a cervical cancer that has genetic material matching the strain of virus that caused the infection.

These findings demonstrate a strong link between the virus and cervical cancer.

Because HPV can be transmitted by sexual contact, early sexual contact and having multiple sexual partners have been identified as strong risk factors for the development of cervical lesions that may progress to cancer.

Cigarette smoking is another risk factor for the development of cervical cancer. The chemicals in cigarette smoke interact with the cells of the cervix, causing precancerous changes that may over time progress to cancer.

Oral contraceptives ("the pill") may increase the risk for cervical cancer, especially in women who use oral contraceptives for longer than 5 years.

Cervical Cancer Treatment

Treatment of cervical cancer is directed at preventing precancerous cells from becoming cancerous cells.

• This is usually a step-by-step process, involving the removal of cells or tissue to diagnose cancer and to find out how far it has invaded.
• If the deepest cells removed by biopsy were normal, no further treatment may be needed.
• If the deepest cells removed by biopsy were cancerous or precancerous, this means the cancer has invaded farther than the biopsy. In these cases, treatment generally starts with removal of additional tissues. As these tissues are removed, they are checked for dysplastic change to be sure all the precancerous or cancerous cells have been removed from the body or are otherwise destroyed.

India the home of tradition has now named as a developing country. New innovations are implemented in various fields. Medical advancement in India has developed so vast that attracts even the abroad patients for health in India. Cervical cancer surgery in India has got the name of best performance and India so called a right destination for cervical cancer surgery. Cervical cancer is one of the life threatening diseases that kill the person livingly. The study of cancer is called Oncology derived from the Greek word called study of mass or tumor. Cervical cancer is a preventable and curable disease if detected earlier.

 

The Rough Guide to South India 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) Author by : David Abram We Have More Tourism Guide Book in : BookmanClub. ....