StatMedica Defends Medical Tourism

Main Category: Dentistry
Also Included In: Cosmetic Medicine / Plastic Surgery;  Public Health
Article Date: 11 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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In recent months, the media in the United Kingdom has featured several articles and reports on "medical tourism", the term commonly used to describe the growing trend for travelling overseas for dental and medical treatment. There has been a particular emphasis on patients travelling overseas for cosmetic procedures and there have been many references to so-called "nip and tuck breaks".

This type of reporting perpetuates the myth that patients who travel overseas for treatment are doing so on a whim or as an extension of an annual holiday. StatMedica, the British-Polish partnership which provides advice and support for patients travelling to Poland for dental and medical treatment would like to challenge this myth, and provide facts about the reasons for patients travelling overseas for treatment.

StatMedica's Warsaw-based Managing Partner, Lukasz Liese said: "The term medical tourism is often misunderstood, usually on account of the word tourism, which almost seems to trivialise or make the procedure seem like a recreational activity."

Treatment overseas is emerging as a credible option to patients who are frustrated by treatment in the NHS, yet find the cost of private healthcare in the United Kingdom prohibitively expensive. In Poland for example, a patient coming from the United Kingdom can receive treatment by a highly regarded specialist and would expect to pay up to 70% less than they would at home.

Speaking from StatMedica's London office, Alison Hope who manages StatMedica's United Kingdom operations said: "Patients who consider treatment overseas spend a lot of time researching their options and are much more likely to scrutinise the experience and qualifications of a surgeon overseas. The decision to have surgery or treatment in Poland is not one that is taken lightly".

StatMedica advises and provides local support to patients considering dental or medical treatment in Poland. It works with a portfolio of specialists who operate in the following fields: dentistry, cosmetic surgery, eye surgery, fertility treatment, health diagnostics and orthopaedic surgery and provides news and updates to patients via its portal, statmedica.com.

http://www.statmedica.com