100.000
Visitors Expected For "Medical Tourism"
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100.000
Visitors Expected For "Medical Tourism"
Medical tourism in Costa Rica is a growing
trend as more and more foreigners come to
the country for a medical procedure offered
by private hospitals. Americans are the
majority of "medical tourist".
The estimate is that some 100.000 visitors
will be coming to Costa Rica over the next 5
years (20.000 per year) solely for the
benefit of medical services, being it
plastic surgery or heart surgery.
The reason is simple. The cost of a medical
procedure in Costa Rica is a lot cheaper
than in the United States, even when you
take account the costs of travel and
accommodations.
This is also good news for the traditional
tourism industry as tourism experts predict
that many of the medical tourists will stay
longer and visit the resorts and beaches
once they are cleared by their doctors and
are ordered to rest.
Direct revenue from medical tourism is
estimated at us$60 million dollars or an
average spending of us$3.000 for each
person.
According to the ministro de Turismo, Carlos
Ricardo Benavides, medical tourism will not
only benefit the health industry, but as
well hotels, travel agencies and airlines,
among many.
To help facilitate the industry, the
government has declared medical tourism a
"public interest".
According to the ministro de Competitividad,
Jorge Woodbridge, medical services in Costa
Rica cost about 1/3 of that in the US and
that up to 40 million Americans do not have
medical insurance, making Costa Rica even
more attractive.
Medical tourism began with plastic surgery.
Breast implants, for example can cost in the
US up to us$10.000. The same procedure in
Costa Rica can cost about us$3.000. Other
areas of interest to man Americans is
dentistry, ophthalmology, orthopedics,
obesity surgery, urology and post operative
care.
One of the major players in the medical
tourism industry is the Clínica Bíblica, a
private hospital in downtown San Jose. Other
private centres like CIMA and Clínica
Catolica also offer medical tourism
services.
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