Ills of medical tourism can be remedied
IN RECENT YEARS, there has been a growing number of patients going overseas for medical treatment, with intermediary agencies springing up to arrange such medical tourism. But fraudsters have also seized the opportunity to cheat people. Legal Daily comments:
The police in Zhuzhou, Central China’s Hunan province, uncovered a medical care fraud case involving 1,700 victims from 26 provinces in which the fraudsters claimed they could arrange quality medical treatments or physical checkups overseas.
Even though the Zhuzhou police rooted out the gang, it remains difficult to obtain evidence and recover the victims’ losses.
It is necessary to reduce the risks to people seeking overseas medical treatment. There are a variety of means to achieve this.
The public health, tourism and public security departments should make concerted efforts to strengthen their supervision of such service providers.
There should also be a legal and well-regulated intermediary market, which can provide Chinese patients with not only quality medical care, but also the necessary means to protect their interests in medical disputes.
The Chinese hospitals can strengthen cooperation with partners in developed countries while trying their best to improve their treatment and services.
Also, the government should give the green light to qualified foreign hospitals opening branches in China.
Lowering the retail price of imported medicines is another effective way to ease the financial burden on patients, and avoid them from traveling abroad for cheaper medicines.
People intending to go to see a doctor overseas must raise their awareness so they can distinguish the illegal intermediary agencies. They should also do their homework so they know how to settle medical disputes and even accidents in the countries and regions of their choices.
Generally speaking, medical treatment should be promoted together with other tourism services.
Of course, the fundamental solution, is to accelerate the improvement of the domestic level of medical treatment in order to reduce patient’s medical costs and medical risks.