When you think of tourism, you generally associate it with holiday travels and activity. However, as the global transportation industry has grown and many destinations have evolved with modern technology and hospitality, tourism has become more than merely taking a holiday. Tourism now can be broadly defined as the activities of people who are travelling in areas outside of their normal environment for purposes that not only include leisure and entertainment, but also business and other purposes, such as medical reasons. Medical tourism has become an undeniably high-growth industry as medical patients now widely travel to destinations that offer affordable access to healthcare services that may not be accessible in their own localities.
What Is Medical Tourism?
Originally, the term “medical tourism” generally referred to the travel of medical patients who lived in underdeveloped countries to more developed countries to access medical treatments that were not available or accessible in their homelands. As nations around the world have begun to grow economically and technologically, and medical technology and services have radically improved across the globe in terms of accessibility, affordability, and availability, medical tourism has become more popular with medical patients from developed and modernised nations. As a result, the term medical tourism can be used to more broadly refer to simply travelling outside of one’s country of residence to receive medical care. The recent growth in the popularity of medical tourism has caught the attention of the media, policymakers, and researchers around the globe.
Why Singapore?
Singapore, which transformed itself from a third world country to a first world nation over a short time period in the late 20th century, has become an increasingly popular destination for medical tourism. In fact, Singapore, India, and Thailand are the top three destinations for medical tourism in the Asia market, serving nine out of ten medical tourism travellers in recent years. Singapore boasts a very well developed infrastructure, a very clean environment, and high quality medical treatment, making it ideal for international patients, especially patients who are seeking the most modern and intricate medical treatment and procedures. This is not surprising, considering that in the first decade of the 21st century, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Singapore’s healthcare system the sixth best in the world, which is great news for anyone looking for colonoscopy in Singapore or a range of other treatments.
A Range of Specialised Medical Treatment
As evidenced by its 2014 Bloomberg ranking as the world’s number one healthcare system, Singapore has demonstrated itself to be a multifaceted medical hub with well-trained doctors and lower wait times, as well as competency in both specialised services and complex procedures. Notable achievements in ovarian and colon cancer detection, cancer research and treatment procedures, prostate cancer treatment, kidney cell research and transplant procedures, diabetes, and many other medical studies make Singapore an ideal option for a range medical services and treatments for all.