What is Medical Tourism?

What would you do if you found out you had a serious medical condition and needed treatment that was not available in your own country?

Living in St Lucia you might think that’s a situation that only happens in countries with smaller populations. But you’d be surprised. In the UK, a 21 year-old social influencer talks about how her family made regular trips to America so she could be treated for a serious cranial deformity.

The simple fact is, there are many conditions that need specialist treatments that patients have to seek out in other parts of the world. This is called ‘medical tourism’ and although there will be some people who combine healthcare with tourism activities, many people don’t.

People choose medical tourism for various reasons including lower costs, shorter waiting times, access to treatments not available in their home country, or to combine medical procedures with a holiday in an attractive destination.

World-wide, the most common procedures and treatments people look for through medical tourism include cosmetic surgery, dental work, orthopaedic surgery, cardiac procedures, fertility treatments, and in recent years, bariatric surgeries.

Growth of Caribbean medical tourism

According to the Medical Tourism Association , health tourism generates $35US billion annually globally, with 69% of survey respondents expressing interest in travelling overseas for healthcare. It’s no longer out of reach for St Lucians and a necessary option for some.

St Lucia, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica are among the Caribbean countries whose governments and hospitals have identified medical tourism as a strategic priority for economic development.