We know that traveling to another country for medical care can be daunting. If this is your first time, you might not even know where to start. This guide shows you 9 easy steps you can take to make your trip a success.
1. Involve Your Home Doctor
Your regular doctor or general practitioner can be very helpful in preparing you for a medical treatment abroad as well as assist with arranging follow-up care. You may need to ask your doctor for a copy of your existing medical records or arrange additional diagnostic tests (such as X-rays or MRI scans). The doctor abroad may also be interested in hearing your home doctor’s diagnosis. It is important that your home doctor is involved in your medical travel to ensure continuity of care.
As with any medical procedure done at home, it is important to follow-up with a doctor after your medical treatment abroad.
2. Research Your Doctor Abroad
We recommend that patients do extensive research on any clinic they are considering trusting with their medical care, whether at home or abroad. MakeMedicalTrip.com is a tool to help you with this research.
Not only do we carefully select our partner clinics, facilitators and hospitals, we also publish information about the organization via corporate profiles on our directory listings. We encourage patients to learn more about medical tourism destinations and medical procedures in order to make better healthcare decisions.
If you have any questions about a particular destination or healthcare center and would like more information, send an inquiry through the online form or to [email protected].
3. Compare Prices
We work with clinics around the world to bring transparency to the cost of healthcare. The cost of treatment differs by country and your individual medical care needs. Even if you’re not planning on leaving your home country for medical care, we recommend you compare the price of treatment at several different clinics or hospitals. Ask a hospital what your estimated cost and treatment plan will be. Make Medical Trip is the only platform that has a “Price Estimate Calculator” that will provide you with instant price estimates to give you a general idea of how much you can expect to pay in each country around the world. This will ensure that you won’t overpay and that you receive high quality, affordable treatment abroad. If you’d like to get a personalized cost estimate, there is no charge for an inquiry at Make Medical Trip!
The sample documents, templates, ebooks and outlines we give away were constituted by medical tourism experts to help patients and medical tourists with their medical trips. The intention of the outlines is not to act as a substitute for professional advice for individual circumstances. The outlines do not constitute medical advice or healthcare advice from our company, which entails other entity or person, or company members.
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4. Find Extra Services and Amenities
We partner with clinics that are experienced in treating patients from around the world. In fact, many of our clinics specialize in it. International patients often have special needs and need accommodations that patients who live around the corner don’t. That’s why many of our clinics, hospitals, and medical tourism agencies offer extra services to help make foreign patients more comfortable. Many offer services like assistance with booking a hotel or free pick-up from the airport. Many hospitals also offer free wifi (which patients from the US might be accustomed to but is harder to find in some countries) and phones for international calling.
Online doctor consultations are also a popular service offered by some of our clinics and hospitals. Being able to contact your doctor remotely is helpful if you have any questions following your treatment after you return home. Speaking to a doctor before your trip means that it is easier to plan your treatment abroad.
5. Find the Right Fit
Just like every patient is different, so is every clinic. You might be more comfortable in a large state-of-the-art hospital, or you may prefer a more intimate, discreet clinic. Maybe finding the lowest price is more important to you than how close the hospital is to the city center. Think about what you like or dislike about your doctor at home. Communication with the doctor and clinical staff is key to having a great experience, and the more comfortable you are with the staff the better the communication will be.
6. Buy Travel Insurance
Purchasing insurance for your trip adds an extra safety net against any potential difficulties that might come up during or as a result of your medical tourism trip. Ask the Make Medical Trip’s Care Team about medical travel insurance.
7. Read Up on Your Destination
Traveling to a foreign country is always a cultural experience. Some of the products you are used to at home might be available where you land, but it’s still a good idea to take things like over the counter medications with you. Make sure you have all of the travel documents you need and check with your country’s foreign ministry or state department to see whether you need any legal documents. If necessary, register with your embassy upon arriving, although this usually isn’t necessary for short trips.
In particular, do some research on the internet about alerts for tourist in the cities you will be visiting. Avoid tourist traps or common forms of fraud or other ways criminals take advantage of tourists in the area. If you are nervous, you can ask for car service throughout your trip.
When your treatment plan allows for it, we encourage patients to enjoy themselves and have a little fun on their trip as well! Ask your medical tourism agent or doctor what kinds of tourist activities they recommend you attempt while you’re there. If recovery will be too painful or complicated to plan any excursions, you can always try arriving a few days before your appointment. Don’t overexert yourself, though, and always follow a doctor’s advice.
Again, if you need any help with information about your destination, the Make Medical Trip Care Team is here to help.
8. Bring a Companion
Even the bravest patients need emotional support sometimes. International travel can be stressful by itself, as can surgery, and combining the two can bring up difficulties you might not expect. If someone cannot come with you, see if they can be available by phone. Of course, you can always contact your medical tourism agent or us.
9. Be Ready for Recovery
Whether you’re recovering in a hotel or flying home to rest, if you think ahead about your recovery it will pay off. If you’re staying in a hotel, consider using Google Maps or a similar service to locate a grocery store and pharmacy near the hotel and print out the addresses to show taxi drivers. You may want to bring comfort items like your favorite pillow or a season of your favorite TV show. Little comforts from home can go a long way.
If you will be flying home directly, contact the airline ahead of time and make sure there won’t be anything that would prevent the flight crew from letting you fly. Every airline has different policies, and even though the captain has the final say over whether or not you will be able to fly, they are often just following the airline’s guidelines. Before you leave, consider cooking a few meals and freezing them for when you return. It may be a few days before you feel like cooking.
It seems like a lot of work and planning, but you’re not doing it alone! Make Medical Trip is here to make medical travel simple. Get started by making an inquiry.
About Make Medical Trip’s Staff
MakeMedicalTrip.com makes medical travel easy by connecting patients with clinics, hospitals, and medical tourism agencies worldwide, completely free of charge. We have clinics specializing in everything from dentistry to bariatrics. Lean more about how Make Medical Trip works at www.makemedicaltrip.com/how-we-help-you/
