Medical tourism has played a catalytic role in making the Asian hospital strive for world-class quality standards. The fact that medical tourism in Asia is happening, is no longer news. But prediction of its huge growth potential certainly is. Abacus International, a UK-based healthcare consultancy believes that the lure of low-cost, high quality healthcare in Asia will attract more than 1.3 million tourists a year to the key locations – Thailand, Singapore, India, South Korea and Malaysia.
The medical tourism market is expected to be worth US$ 4 billion by 2012. Rising healthcare costs in the US have forced the un-insured and under-insured patients to look at cheaper healthcare alternatives outside the US. But while high costs have been an important driver, the factor that has actually pushed the patients to undertake the long journey is that the hospitals in Asia have made an effort…
