11:19 10.01.2018

About 40% of patients leaving abroad treat cancer diseases

2 min read
About 40% of patients leaving abroad treat cancer diseases

About 40% of Ukrainian patients leaving abroad are going to treat cancer diseases in foreign clinics, Vice President at the International Association of Physicians in Medical Tourism (IAPMT) Inna Dashchenko has said.

"Approximate figures, according to Ukrainian agencies, are oncology - 40%, neurology - 10%, organ transplantation - 8%, diagnostics - 8%, orthopedics - 8%, bone marrow transplantation - 6%, and the remaining queries are ophthalmology, urology, aesthetic medicine, pulmonology, ENT diseases, "she told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to IAPMT, the most popular medical destinations from Ukraine in 2017 were Turkey, which patients visit for diagnostics and treatment of oncology, orthopedics and da Vinci surgery, Israel (oncology, orthopedics, organ transplantation), Latvia and Lithuania (orthopedics, rehabilitation, phlebology), Greece (da Vinci surgery, rehabilitation), Poland (neurorehabilitation, orthopedics), India (oncology - chemotherapy, radiotherapy, transplantation), Belarus (transplantation), and Thailand (surgery and plastic surgery).

In addition, Ukrainian patients travel to the health resorts of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Dashchenko said that most often the operators of outbound medical tourism promote proposals for bone marrow transplantation, cardiosurgery, phlebology, bariatrics, Da Vinci surgery, as well as rehabilitation and sanatorium treatment.

While commenting on the development of inbound medical tourism in Ukraine, the expert noted that it "develops mainly with the efforts of the clinics themselves," while the country has no tradition of remuneration for attracting patients.

"Many clinics are ready to accept foreign patients, but the service part is often poor, and the clinics do not fully know where to attract patients from. Most often the patients are our emigrants, employees of foreign companies working in Ukraine, and their friends, who travel here on someone's recommendation," she said.

According to Dashchenko, in the field of inbound medical tourism foreign patients are most attracted by cardiosurgery, ophthalmology, aesthetic medicine and stem cell treatment, dentistry, neurorehabilitation, and gastroenterological resorts.

"Medical tourists often combine work or rest with basic diagnostics - CT, MRI, tests, precisely because of the speed of the service and an attractive price," she said.

Dashchenko predicted the growth of medical tourism in 2018.

"There are new agents who want to develop inbound tourism, but they lack information, partners and funding. Any work should be paid for, but not all our clinics and sanatoriums are ready to lay the remuneration of agents in the expenditure side," the expert said.

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