Medical Tourism in the Philippines; do you need a new set of dentures?

Medical Tourism In The Philippines

Since 2006, after the creation of the medical tourism bureau, the Philippines government has been embarking on a marketing campaign to promote medical tourism in the country.

With is large pool of qualified medical professionals, this seems to be an obvious and natural move to bolster its economy. The large pool of qualified medical professionals is actually a product of over 300 institutions that specialize in medical education.

No doubt, the fact that the Philippines is the major supplier of qualified health professionals to the world labour market bears testimony to the quality of its health training institutions.

Apart from the fact that the Filipinos’ health training institutions are of high standards, Filipinos also form the second (2nd) largest group of overseas students that graduated from American institutions in the field of various medical expertise.

These Filipino graduates are also one of the main reasons why the practice of medicine is of a world class standard. When these students return home to their country, they also bring back with them the knowledge, technology and other techniques that they gained while studying in the U.S.

In the Philippines itself, the standard of medical training is as good as that of the U.S.

For example, withr dentistry students, they have to undergo four (4) years of coursework and two (2) years of practical training. Then and only then will they be allowed to take the board exams. Now, in addition to this, they have to undergo a further year or two of specialization studies.

Now talk about spending half your lifetime studying!

For physicians, the duration they spend on studying and training is even longer. They can spend up to ten (10) years of studying and training before they are able to take the Philippines Board of Medicine’s medical exams. That is an entire decade of time spent on preparing oneself to be a physician here in the Philippines.

Nevertheless, like all places, there is a distinct difference between the quality of healthcare provided by the public and private sector. Medical tourism in the Philippines is not affected by quality of services, because the services are provided by the private sector.

The hospitals here also undergo periodical inspections by the Department of health. For those hospitals which have international accreditations and standards like those from the Joint Commission International (JCI) and International Organization of standards (ISO), they will be subjected to even more stringent scrutiny in order to renew their accreditations.

As to the cost of medical tourism in the Philippines, procedures done here average a saving of 85%.

For example, a coronary bypass in the U.S. would set you back between $70,000 to $133,000. In the Philippines, the same procedure will cost you around $11,000 to $17,000.

Even with all the incidental costs thrown in, you will still end up paying less.

There are all types of medical procedures available here for medical tourism in the Philippines.

Some of the common ones undertaken by those from the first world countries include:

• Dentistry
• Dermatology
• Eye Surgery
• Fertility Treatment
• General Surgery
• Hair Transplant
• Plastic Surgery
• Stem Cell Therapy
• Weight Loss Surgery

Overall, medical tourism in the Philippines is a good place to have your medical procedures done at a lower cost without compromising on quality.

The only drawback is the flight time from the U.S. to this country. This might not seem much to some but when you are ill, the journey itself can be an agony.

Still the pros far outweigh the cons about medical tourism in the Philippines.

Don't forget if you are travelling here to the Philippines, ensure you take out Travel Insurance. If something goes wrong you will be happy you have it!

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