What are the meanings, characteristics and precautions of medical tourism?

In recent years, medical tourism has been widely concerned by everyone, and some medical and other health care projects are carried out during the trip to achieve a more comfortable experience. So what is the concept of medical tourism, including what items? Let's take a closer look.

What is medical tourism? As early as the 1980s, European and American countries had similar travel and medical compatibility trips. But the scope only involves cosmetic surgery and organ switching surgery, and the concept of "medical tourism" is still quite vague. Until 1997

In, a variety of tourism products, the WorldTourism Organization, appeared, which mainly focused on tourism and supplemented by medical care.

Organization) has a clear definition: tourism includes three elements: medical treatment, disease and health, rehabilitation and recuperation, which can be called medical tourism.

In practice, the "deduction" of the East and the West also has its own merits. European and American countries pay more attention to treatment and introduce plastic surgery, complex organ surgery and even psychological rehabilitation courses. As for Asia-Pacific countries, there are also plastic surgery and organ surgery, but in recent years, more attention has been paid to physical examination and health care projects, emphasizing health care; Because medical care only considers the journey.

1 Spending half a day, mostly free travel, with low expenses, naturally attracted a group of citizens who attach importance to the quality of life in high-consumption countries.

Characteristics of medical tourism 90% of foreign medical tourism is a new tourism industry based on medical service, disease health care, disease health management, rehabilitation and healthy rest, and it is also the fastest growing sub-industry field of world tourism in recent years. According to the research report jointly released by the Global Spa and Health Summit and the internationally renowned Stanford Research Institute (sri), the scale of the global medical tourism industry in 20 13 years was about 438.6 billion US dollars, accounting for 14% of the global tourism industry economy.

As a new tourism format, medical tourism has long been accepted by Chinese people. Tourism products such as plastic surgery in South Korea, early cancer screening in Japan, and embryo injection of anti-aging sheep in Switzerland have become the main projects of overseas travel of many travel agencies. Zhou Ye, marketing manager of a travel agency in East China that deals in foreign medical tourism products, said that anti-aging, cancer prevention and plastic surgery are the most frequently consulted items for outbound tourists.

The number of global medical tourists increased from 20 million in 2006 to 40 million in 20 12. More and more countries support medical tourism, a high-yield tourism project. In Asia, medical tourism has become one of the fastest-growing industries, and the development of related industries in Indian, Thai, Malaysian and China Taiwan Province Province ranks among the top in the world.

However, at present, China's international medical tourism industry is still in the "zero starting point" stage, and relevant government departments and medical institutions have begun to jointly explore the promotion model of international medical tourism industry development. Moreover, more than 90% of medical tourism customers in China are mainly outbound, and China's inbound medical tourism industry is still in its early embryonic stage. China is already the largest tourist exporter in the world, but it obviously lags behind South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and other Asian neighbors in terms of the scale of inbound medical tourism industry.

At present, the development of domestic medical centers or medical tourism parks still faces many difficulties, and the development of domestic medical tourism still needs to break through bottlenecks such as talent training and policy restrictions. The lack of medical talents engaged in high-end medical services is a major bottleneck in the development of domestic medical tourism. A considerable number of doctors in China have low academic qualifications, and the details of the policy to promote doctors' multi-point practice in China are still unclear, which makes it difficult for famous doctors to practice multi-point and limits the effective use of excellent medical talents. In addition, some medical tourists prefer "foreign doctors" and feel uneasy about medical institutions that carry out medical projects such as cosmetic surgery and early cancer screening in China.

Tips 1。 First understand the product content and measure the risks, including your trust in national medical care and your communication ability with local medical staff.

2. You need to check with the insurance company whether the life insurance or travel insurance you bought contains the details of medical treatment abroad.

3. If you have long-term illness or particularly sensitive symptoms, first notify the local medical staff to study whether you are suitable for the corresponding treatment; It is recommended to take the medical records with you or consult your family doctor before making a decision.

4. If there are adverse effects after returning to China, it is not easy to follow up; Surgery is an item that should be carefully considered in medical tourism.