After the global financial crisis in 2008, many countries began to encourage medical tourism to stimulate their economies.
In addition, since the 1997 financial crisis, Asian destinations sought to develop the medical tourism industry to bring in foreign exchange. Malaysia, Thailand, and India have implemented policies to attract foreign patients and have established themselves as world-class medical hubs.
Thailand’s medical tourism industry generated $340 million in 2010 and $622 million in 2013, representing an average annual growth rate of at least 20 per cent. Malaysia’s during the same period was growing at 19 per cent.
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Israel, Turkey, and the UAE have actively developed their healthcare systems to attract patients from neighboring countries and Europe. The worldwide interest in promoting medical tourism as a driver of a host country’s growth can be attributed to three factors : dollar revenue from these ourists and accompanying family members,
UAE a pivot of pathbreaking medical treatment
31 Jan 2021 The UAE holds a special position in regional and international medical tourism space. The days when a resident in the UAE needed to go abroad have been given the go-by. Now complex surgeries can be performed in this country, much to the relief of the patient and the delight of his family.
To illustrate. Bosnian patient Edin Mackic recently underwent a minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi.
Edin was presented to the hospital with heart failure symptoms, including shortness of breath and chest pain. What he did not know was that he had been suffering from severe aortic stenosis, caused by a calcific and degenerative valve disease. This serious valve problem restricts the blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta but may not cause noticeable symptoms immediately.