Whether people are aware of it or not, medical tourism is a thriving industry for certain countries around the world. While there still is a certain stigma that is attached to it, depending on the type of surgery that someone is seeking to have, medical tourism has seen a spike in the past few years thanks to better resources that are in place. To that end, another country has joined the ranks of destinations for these travelers to consider for their medical needs.
Poland is currently experiencing a sharp uptick in the amount of people venturing to their country for medical procedures. The Polish Association of Medical Tourism, a body of healthcare facilities, doctors, insurance companies and various other medical professionals has released a report that finds that 390,000 people took advantage of their outpatient services last year. It represents a ten percent growth from the previous year. Poland has benefited from not only having more medical tourism advocates from the United States and Europe work with their own groups to provide a better framework for those tourists, but also their presence in the European Union. That latter fact has allowed for better cross-border healthcare awareness as well as a directive that allows for those in other EU countries to head to Poland to take advantage of their healthcare options without penalty.
Another factor to be considered in this rise has been the distinct disparity in costs for procedures in the country as compared to those in Western European countries and even those in Asian nations such as Thailand and India which have been prime destinations in past years for medical tourists. For instance, a dental implant procedure that would cost US$3,000 in the States and US$1,100 in India would only cost someone US$1,000 in Poland according to statistics provided by PAMT. The cost differential is more striking when you get to more intensive procedures; for a heart bypass, a surgery which on average will cost US$145,000 Stateside will only cost you a fraction of that if one has it done in Poland at US$14,000. This bodes well for those interested in cosmetic surgery and dental work, both the top draws for medical travelers to Poland last year.
The recent wave of new tourists looking to go under the knife has raised average costs of procedures, which has been estimated by professionals to be about US$946. Poland expects that ten percent growth in the medical tourism industry, which is tied to the 20 percent increase in medical tourism travel globally, to subsequently be in place in the next few years.
