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- PMLiVE

Article: The Patient Abroad

April 2, 2015 |  

Published in Medical Marketing & Media March 2015

Approximately 11 million people were medical tourists in 2013, generating a market worth over $50 billion. While obtaining accurate data is challenging, estimates suggest the global medical tourism market is expanding by 25% each year.

Having grown up in the UK, where high-quality healthcare is available to all through the National Health Service, I hadn’t given the concept of medical tourism a great deal of thought before I moved to Asia. It would simply not have occurred to me to seek healthcare overseas for any other reason than if I happened to fall ill while traveling. 

I first became aware of the concept when reading rumors that Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was being treated in one of Singapore’s exclusive private hospitals – which happened to be just down the road from my apartment at the time. This led to much discussion among my peers about how much it would cost to be a medical tourist in Singapore. “High end” patients can expect to accrue bills of thousands of dollars. The most expensive “hospitel” (hospital hotel) penthouse suite (not room) in Singapore costs over $8,000 per night – and it does not include the additional costs of medical treatment. This particular establishment anticipates that at least half of its “guests” (not patients) will come from overseas.

Read the full article on Medical Marketing & Media »

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