Sep 9, 2010 Posted by admin in Articles

Medical Tourism in Thailand

1. Medical Tourism in Thailand
Introduction

Health travel, once a luxury of only the rich, can now be enjoyed by virtually all. In the days of yesteryear, hardly anyone even pondered the possibilities of going abroad to a distant foreign land to have treatment. But now, with the advent of the world becoming the one and only global village, millions are crossing international datelines in hope of achieving a ‘better new life’.

One of those countries which have sprung to life as a destination for medical treatment is the south-east Asian country of Thailand. Unlike most Western countries, the cost of private medical treatment is cost-effective where hospitals do not charge a bomb. Contrary to popular belief, the standards in Thailand are of an extremely high international standard where many of the health workers have graduated in developed Western countries. Looking at it straight on, the reality is – Thailand can offer the patient the same kind of treatment as back home while enabling him or her to enjoy the holiday of a life time. The uptrend of medical tourism in Thailand is escalating to meteoric heights.

History

Thailand’s first hospital was founded during the reign of King Chulalongkorn and the Medical Association of Thailand was established in 1921.

Prince Mahidol, the father of the present king Bhumibol, has much to do with developing medical schools in Thailand and goes down in Thai history as ‘The Father of Modern Thai medicine’. Prince Mahidol realized the importance of bringing Western standard medical practice to Siam and so helped fund many of Thailand’s doctors and nurses to go abroad to further their studies at institutes such as Harvard and MIT in the United States. And it was those health workers who planted and later sowed the seeds of a world-class medical network in Thailand.

Latest Situation

Westerners are currently arriving in Thailand, the Land of Smiles, in exhilarating numbers to undergo medical treatments at a fraction of the cost as that charged in their home countries.

On top of having treatments conducted by highly trained and skilled doctors, patients can also enjoy a marvelous holiday in one of Asia’s prime tourist destinations. Many of the country’s hospitals are now globally renowned for their expertise. They include Bumrungrad Hospital, Bangkok General Hospital, Samitivej Hospital and Bangkok Nursing Home Hospital.

Figures and Statistics

Thailand as a destination for medical treatment has rocketed in recent years and they have the statistics to prove it. Take just one country like the United Arab Emirates for example – over 60,000 of their citizens a year come to Thailand to enjoy treatment. Two of the Thailand’s top hospitals Bumrungrad and Samitivej treat patients of whom 40% are foreign – this kind of high percentage is quite phenomenal.

According to the Kasikorn Research Centre, 2005 alone attracted an unprecedented 1.28 million foreign medical travelers which generated revenue of 33 billion baht. That means therefore, that on average each patient spent 25,800 baht for their treatments. It was revealed in an article in Newsweek in 2006 that 400,000 foreign patients were treated at just Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok. This prestigious world-class hospital has an outpatient capacity of 6,000 patients per day.

Thailand presently has a free universal health program for its citizens with more than 600 hospitals and 400 medical facilities. Today, Thailand has proudly become a medical hub for patients from the United States, Europe, the surrounding countries, and the Middle East.

2. Why Thailand / Reasons to chose Thailand as the medical destination
Introduction

There is no single reason why so many folk come to Thailand to receive medical treatment. Not only is Thailand a superb destination for stunning beaches, islands, mountains, modern infrastructure, cuisines, low costs and friendly people, there are other reasons too.

Some of the Best Hospitals in the World:Thailand has, over the years, spent furtively in developing its medical tourism infrastructure and established over 30 English speaking hospitals, innumerable dentistry clinics and other alternative healing centers. Some are accredited to prestigious boards including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the International Organization for Standardization.

Incredible Service:It is no joke when Westerners write on the Internet or chat in bars that the service, look and ambiance of Thailand’s hospitals is similar to that of a five-star hotel. The treatment received from doctors, nurses, orderlies, administrators, and technicians is outstanding and the doctor patient ratio is as low as 1:4.

Extra-ordinary value for money:Foreign patients can expect to pay just 10-50% for the cost of treatment, in comparison to what they would pay back home. The likes of hip surgeries, teeth whitening, face lifts, x-rays, mastectomies, and heart bypasses can all be performed at very affordable prices. With the money they save they can enjoy a memorable holiday and even go back home with cash leftover.

Unique Procedures:Many hospitals are offering treatments which are virtually unheard of elsewhere.

Excellent Long-lasting Outcome:Some of Thailand hospitals have been recognized for performing outstanding treatments for several procedures while producing excellent outcome with long lasting effects.

Thailand is Amazing for Relaxing: After treatment, patients can experience spas and resorts which are universally famous for exceptional service and comfort, while looking over beautiful virgin beaches or remote mountains. 

International Health Care System

Thailand top hospitals provide prompt and complete response in any emergency situation and are recognized outside of Thailand as having standards equivalent to that of those in the West.

Foreign Patients: The renowned Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok attracts on average 400,000 foreign patients per year or an average of 1,000+ a day. Other hospitals too, such as Samitivej also specialize in serving foreigners.

Regulatory Agency: Private hospitals in Thailand are accredited by the government according to standards that meet or exceed those in North America. Only four countries in the world – the United States, Canada, Australia, and Thailand – require private hospitals to meet rigorous medical and healthcare standards and be duly accredited as achieving those standards.

International Accreditation

The standard of treatment in Thailand is considered in North America of being one of the highest in the world with most of their doctors holding US professional certification. Many of the hospitals have international JCAHO accreditation; this is an organization which is the primary inspector of hospitals, nursing homes and other medical institutions in the US.

All of Thailand’s hospitals have to be licensed by the Health Ministry and the same applies to the doctors. In fact, some of the hospitals in Thailand have accreditation from Western medical associations. Most of the country’s major hospitals also have achieved other accreditation being the International Standards Organization’s ISO 9001:2000 accreditation.

Many of the doctors in Thailand have graduated and trained in Europe and the US and hold medical credentials form there. The hospitals also have working relations with Western hospitals. The UK Foreign and Common Wealth Office verifies that Bangkok has “Excellent International Hospitals” and the US State Department has stated that Bangkok also offers “Excellent facilities exist for routine long-term and emergency healthcare.

Technology

The most up-to-date state of the art developments and technologies have been introduced in Thailand to enhance medical facilities and treatment. They include:

– DSA (Digital Subtraction Angiography),
– Digital Mammogram allowing accurate diagnosis and early discovery of cancer in women.
– Green light PVP Laser for ProstateTreatmernt to precisely target prostate tissue with a high powered laser beam.
– PET/CT Scanner (Position Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography Scanner) assist in the earliest detection of cancers and assess heart muscle viability for the evaluation of functional brain anatomy.
– Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery System Installed and Operating helps applies doses of radiation, allowing it to destroy diseased tissue or cauterize a problem area without affecting healthy adjacent tissue. Other treatments are cancerous tumors, arteriovenous, malformations and Parkinson’s disease.
– 4D Ultrasound creates a motion life-like picture with the speed of 25 volumes per second.
– magnetic Resonance Imageing (MRI – Intra Achiva 3.0T MRI) allows the detailed information necessary to detect blood circulation abnormalities and is particularly useful in the early detection of brain cancer.
– Gamma Knife Surgery makes non-invasive brain surgery possible by applying hihgly targeted gamma radiation to the treatment of tumors, arteriovenous malformations of the brain and functional disorders.
– IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy) focuses radiation doses on tumors without damaging the surrounding tissue.
– Minimal Invasive Heart Surgery, the da Vinci Surgical System uses robotics to translate the surgeon’s natural hand movements into the micro movements of a robotic arm. The surgeon is able to apply less invasive incisions with unprecedented precision, lowering risk, accelerating recovery, and greatly reducing scarring.

Sep 3, 2010 Posted by admin in Articles

Marketsandmarkets: Global Minimally Invasive/ Non Invasive Market Worth $24.4 Billion By 2014

According to a new healthcare market research report ‘Global Minimally Invasive/Non Invasive Market (2009 – 2014)’, published by MarketsandMarkets (www.marketsandmarkets.com), in 2009, the global minimally invasive/ non invasive market is estimated to be approximately $16.4 billion and is expected to reach $24.4 billion by 2014 at a CAGR of 8.3%.

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http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/minimal-invasive-and-non-invasive-product-and-service-market-110.html

As the people are demanding more convenience such as painless treatment, and less post operative stay in surgeries, the market is set to evolve as a miniature instrument based surgery in the future, which will ensure further convenience in such type of surgeries. The introduction of capsule endoscopy is one such example. The minimally invasive surgery market is evolving towards more convenience for the patients and subsequent technological advancements.

In the minimally invasive product market (which includes surgical devices, monitoring and visualization system, endosurgical equipments, medical robotics, and electrosurgical equipments), medical robotics is the fastest growing segment which is expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2014 growing at a CAGR of 21.3%, while surgical device alone constitute approximately $11.3 billion in 2009, which is more than 65% of the entire market.

In the minimally invasive application market (which includes gastrointestinal surgery, gynecology surgery, urology surgery, cosmetic surgery, obesity surgery, thoracic surgery, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, orthopaedic surgery, and other surgery), cardiac surgery forms the major share of this market with estimated annual revenue of $11.2 billion in 2009. While orthopedic surgery is the highest growing market with a CAGR of 12.9% for the period 2009 to 2014 mainly due to introduction of new technologies such as joint replacements and bio implants in such surgeries.

The report also covers the segmentation of the minimally invasive/ non invasive market by:

* Technology (Transcatheter surgery, laparoscopy surgery, non visual imaging and robotics)
* End user (Hospital surgical departments, outpatient surgery centers, group practices, individual surgeons, medical schools, and other users)

Analyst Briefings on 24th Sep 2009
The Medical Devices practice at MarketsandMarkets is pleased to announce its Analyst Briefing Presentation on the Global Minimally/Non-Invasive Surgery Market (2009-2014) market to be held on 24th Sep 2009. The briefing on the Global Minimally/Non-Invasive Surgery Market (2009-2014) will benefit the Minimally/Non-Invasive Surgical Equipment Manufacturers, hospital surgical departments, individual surgeons, outpatient surgery centers, contract research organizations, medical device/healthcare associations, research labs, healthcare service providers, regulatory authorities, and technology providers.

Aug 28, 2010 Posted by admin in Articles

Travel to India for Your Angioplasty Surgery

 

Cardiac care has become a specialty in India with the best institutions and research centers in India. Medical tourism in India combines the latest medical innovations in medical electronics with unmatched expertise in leading cardiologists and cardo-thoracic surgeons to provide the best outcome to the abroad patients who are undergoing their angioplasty surgery in India. The heart centers in India have the distinction of providing comprehensive cardiac care spanning from basic facilities in preventive cardiology to the most sophisticated curative technology. In India the technology is contemporary and world class and the volumes handled match global benchmarks. India also specialise in offering surgery to high-risk patients with the introduction of innovative techniques like minimally invasive and robotic surgery. Hospitals of angioplasty surgery in India are situated at the metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

What is Angioplasty?

Angioplasty is a term describing a procedure used to widen vessels narrowed by stenoses or occlusions. There are various types of these procedures and their names are associated with the type of vessel entry and equipment used. For example, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) describes entry through the skin (percutaneous) and navigates to the area of the vessel of interest through the same vessel or one that communicates with it (transluminal). In the case of a procedure involving the coronary arteries, the point of entry could be the femoral artery in the groin and the catheter/guidewire system is passed through the aorta to the heart and the origin of the coronary arteries at the base of the aorta just outside the aortic valve.

Who is an ideal candidate for angioplasty?

When medications or lifestyle changes aren’t enough to reduce the effects of these blockages in arteries, or if patient have worsening chest pain or heart problems, doctor might suggest coronary angioplasty (AN-je-o-plas-te).

This procedure widens (dilates) blocked arteries, which can help prevent the complications of atherosclerosis. Angioplasty is usually combined with implantation of a stent in the clogged artery to help prop it open and decrease the chance of reblockage. Angioplasty is also known as coronary artery balloon dilation, balloon angioplasty and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Benefits of Angioplasty:

§ It doesn’t require a major incision.

§ Patient don’t need general anesthesia.

§ Major complications are uncommon.

§ It can relieve your symptoms, such as chest pain.

Why should one go for Angioplasty surgery to India?

Most important reason to do so is that the cost of the angioplasty surgery is very low in India-almost 20% of the cost of what one would pay in USA, Canada or UK. India has numbers of renowned angioplasty surgery hospitals to handle all phases of heart diseases from the elementary to the latest clinical procedures like interventional cardiac catherisation and surgical cardiac transplants. Their success rate at an average of 98.50% is at par with leading cardiac centres around the world. Leading heart centres in India have Cardiac Care Units with sophisticated equipment and investigative facilities like Echocardiography with colored Doppler, Nuclear Scanning and Coronary Angiography. For more details on angioplasty surgery in India visit http://www.forerunnershealthcare.com and enquiry@forerunnershealthcare.com

Aug 22, 2010 Posted by admin in Articles

Coronary Angiography in India: a Cost Effective Solution

Coronary angiography in India is one of the cost effective solutions for the international patients who wish to have their Coronary angiography at affordable cost. Hospitals of Coronary angiography in India are providing special affordable packages to abroad patients for Coronary angiography in India. India is one of the world’s leading destinations for medical tourism. The country has the best super specialty hospitals that offer the best in terms of cardiology and treatment of heart ailments. The Hospitals in India , , has state of the art cardiac care facilities, and offers excellent preventive and intervention care that is at par with the best in the world. Coronary angiography is offered by most super specialty hospitals in India. This is an effective method for taking x Rays of the veins and arteries, or the more inaccessible chambers of the heart. In this procedure, a catheter tube is inserted into the heart or arteries close to it, and a fluorescent dye is injected into the bloodstream, which is picked up by x ray machines. The x ray photograph thus obtained is known as an angiogram.

Cornory Angiography:

Coronary angiography is an X-Ray procedure to show up the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries). If these are narrowed or blocked they can result in angina or heart attack (myocardial infarction), and coronary angiography enables us to better work out how to treat the patient.

The procedure involves putting a tube into the heart via an artery in the arm or leg, and injecting a liquid into the coronary arteries which shows them up when viewed with X-Rays.

Who is an ideal candidate for Coronary angiography?

Your doctor may recommend that you undergo coronary angiography if:

You have symptoms of coronary artery disease, such as chest pain (angina)
You have unexplained pain in your chest, jaw, neck or arm, and other testing has been inconclusive
You have new or increasing chest pain (unstable angina)
You don’t have symptoms, but other tests have suggested you may have heart abnormalities
You’re going to have surgery unrelated to your heart, but you’re at high risk of having a heart problem during that surgery
You’re planning to have heart valve surgery
You have congenital heart disease
You have congestive heart failure
You have certain other heart or blood vessel problems or certain traumatic chest injuries

Because of its risks, angiography often is done only after certain other heart tests have been performed, such as an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram or a stress test.

The cost of coronary angiography in India is very affordable as compare to other western countries. Many international patients are turning to India for affordable Coronary angiography, with the help of medical tourism in India these patients are getting best medical services at very low cost. Hospitals of coronary angiography in India are located at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad; Indian hospitals combine the latest innovations in medical electronics with unmatched expertise in leading cardiologists and cardo-thoracic surgeons of India. Medical centers in India have the distinction of providing comprehensive cardiac care spanning from basic facilities in preventive cardiology to the most sophisticated curative technology. The technology is contemporary and world class and the volumes handled match global benchmarks. They also specialize in offering surgery to high risk patients with the introduction of innovative techniques like minimally invasive and robotic surgery. For more details visit on http://www.forerunnershealthcare.com and enquiry@forerunnershealthcare.com

Aug 16, 2010 Posted by admin in Articles

Hot Penny Stock Picks – Good Penny Stock Picks

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