For Many Patients Custom Made Medical Travel Is The Only Solution

By Jeffrey Barnes


It is a sad fact that numerous people die every year from diseases and conditions that can actually be treated successfully. This happens because the health systems in their own countries are either inadequate or overloaded, resulting in long waiting lists. In other cases patients simply cannot afford the necessary treatment. These patients, and their loved ones, will often go to great lengths to see help. To this end they approach agents that can design them a package for custom made medical travel.

Even in ancient times people traveled far to seek help from famous healers or to seek a cure at holy places reputed to have healing powers. In many cases these long trips became quests and travelers often had to endure hardship. Even in those times, however, ill people were willing to sacrifice and to suffer if only there is even the smallest chance that their lives can be saved or their diseases cured.

In modern times, traveling abroad for treatment has become a huge industry and some tourism operators specialize in designing special packages for this type of tourist. Desperately ill people will go to any length to get help if it is not readily available in their own countries. People facing death have only one priority and that is to do whatever is necessary to stay alive.

Even patients that are not desperately ill often seek treatment abroad. Those suffering from drear diseases, for example, may learn about new experimental treatment in another country and decide to opt for that treatment. In other cases, patients wish to be attended by a very specific specialist that is renowned for his successes in his specific field. It is only natural that ill people want the best treatment possible.

One would think that it is only the very rich that can afford to seek treatment in foreign countries. This is not the case. Patients from countries with very strong currencies can often not afford specialist treatment in their own countries while they can actually afford such treatment in other countries with weak currencies. There are many countries with excellent treatment facilities but that have weak currencies.

Some experts have warned that travelling to other countries for treatment raise a number of ethical questions. Critics say that many doctors and hospitals will give preference to foreign patients because they can pay more. This preferential treatment can easily be to the detriment of local patients that are dependent upon public health systems. Critics also say that the system is not properly regulated.

This type of traveling should be planned very carefully. It is very important to use an agent that is experienced in this field, that has numerous contacts within the medical fraternity and that can design a flexible package. Tourists seeking treatment do not have fixed itineraries because it is not always possible to predict how long the treatment, recuperation and rehabilitation will take.

When people are facing death it is only too easy to understand why they would spend a lot of money and effort in seeking treatment. If there is even the slightest chance of a cure, they will pursue that chance. The will to survive is, after all, supreme.




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