At first, it is the idea that attracts the majority – getting medically treated and taken care of while also having an opportunity to stroll around the streets of beautiful destinations sounds more than great.

However, such lovely experience of getting affordable treatments and a chance to get to know the culture can quickly turn into a nightmare if you don’t get all the necessary information and research before making your decision.

We have made a list of things that you should avoid as a medical tourism patient.

Choosing hospitals that are not in the EU/EEA/UK

It is necessary to know that the hospital you chose has met all the standards that have been set for medical tourism and approved by an official review board. There are EU-wide accepted regulations and various rules regarding professional ethics and medical code.

Make sure that you check this thoroughly as the quality of your health care may depend on this heavily. The clinics that are non-accredited (i.e. outside of the EU/EEA) may not be transparent to you and your insurance company might refuse to cover the costs of your treatment at such place. Besides that, you are more likely to get the procedures that cause harm to your health.

 

Making decisions based on prices alone

Although the cost of treatments should be considered, it’s very important that the price doesn’t become a priority. Otherwise, the quality of the treatment you’re getting may not be as you want it to be. Your prime concerns should always be your health and satisfaction – these two should never be compromised.

 

Not checking the reviews of former patients

If the hospital is an approved one and transparent, it will always have reviews from the former patients on various social networks like youtube, facebook, or specialized reviews pages like trustpilot, google business. Whether they would be positive or negative, they do give you a good overview about that particular clinic, its staff, the quality of the treatments offered, etc. before you have made your final decision. You can usually find all of the reviews on one page like Wellness Travels does, for instance: medtourism.eu/reviews.

Having a lack of information about the treatments

Being poorly informed about your medical treatment, the course of it, possible side effects and recovery time can lead you to not being happy about the results. In order to be physically as well as mentally prepared, you should research as much as possible gathering all the necessary information.

Going without the insurance

If the clinic you have chosen to receive your procedures at doesn’t offer a medical insurance, you should either reconsider it or get a separate insurance. Unexpected things like complications can turn out to be very costly if they happen.

Not reading the contracts carefully

Reading the hospital contracts and finding out the terms and conditions of your stay and treatments is very important. Never forget the fine print – you should always know exactly what you’re getting your signature on.