Mon 23 Jul 2007
Something I don’t get…
Posted by raphael encaoua under medical tourism, Medical travel
Whenever I see a medical tourism website I always confronted to the same problem. As medical tourism companies want to fulfill the desire of any potential customer, the latter companies are providing all kind of medical services. therefore on the same page I witness the fact that I can get a CABG as well as a BOTOX injection. What? Somebody is going to inject a bacteria in my heart? No, keep cool reader, it is just to illustrate the total lack of focus of medical tourism companies.
The direct consequence is that I don’t understand at all the recovery time needed for my operation and how to chain it with some tourism activities. There are no ready to go packages. Even though medical tourism is often a case to case problem, people cannot rasp with no clues what is going to happen during their trip. one can point out to the fact that a website will always provide us with some example, but it’s always the same one.
‘This is a story of a 50 year old man that has no insurace policies but desperately needs an angioplasty. Therefore he opts for a low cost solution in India, where the cost of an angioplasty is barely 7%. Wow! What a tradeoff! And thanks to the price differential he can travel with his wife in business class and stay 3 weeks in a 5 star hotel. Oh miracle! Great!’
Sorry, but besides angioplasty such examples are difficult to come with and this gives me no idea about what will happen after an IPL hair removal of my chest or after a dental bonding procedure. Besides Mednomad, a portal that gives Ok information about medical procedures, I understand nothing, absolutely nothing to medical trip organisation. It seems as if people were putting cardboards where is written: ‘please drop money and I ll get richer’. Many companies have come with personal assistance models when arriving at the airport of the city where is the hospital but this is not new. It has existed for years in the medical industry and is called incoming services.
So please, medical tourism companies, innovate. i desperately need to WYSIWYG my trip. Do you have any clues?
3 Responses to “ Something I don’t get… ”
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July 24th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Raphael,
Its interesting to see that someone is raising this question. I too feel that things are too fragmented. But I don’t understand what these Medical Tourism firms can do or should do as facilitators.
Is it the lack of information or lack interactivity?
Is medical tourism to the point that we need MedTour 2.0?
Want to hear from your end.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I think it is obviously because people love short cash and there is no real concern about the people but just the success of their operation. However I do believe that when focusing on consumer satisfaction the equation is different.
When you want a consumer to be satisfied you try to provide him added value, that stems from his experience during and even after the trip. What is the after trip for a medical tourism company? Scarcely anything… perhaps a phone call to know that you are not dead. This is not a good way to favour word of mouth on a company. In fact when someone is satisfied by his surgery abroad he will praise the hospitak not the medical tourism agency. And that s a major problems. I have quite a few ideas on the subject but I am sure you would like to shed a light on yours first!