A new way of obtaining affordable medical treatment is quickly becoming more and more popular both in the United States as well as in other industrialized nations. This new fad is known as medical tourism and is the act of traveling to other countries to obtain medical, dental and surgical treatments. A combination of many factors has led to the recent increase in popularity of medical tourism including the high cost of healthcare in industrialized nations, especially the United States where the number of uninsured Americans is growing immensely, of the long wait lists for treatment in many of the countries that have public health systems, the ease and affordability of international travel, and the improvement of technology and standards of care in many countries of the world.
There are obviously many different reasons for traveling to a foreign country for medical treatment, but topping them all, the real attraction to medical tourism is saving money on what normally are very costly procedures. The cost of surgery in India, Bolivia, Thailand or South Africa can be 1/10th of what it is in the United States or Western Europe, and sometimes even less.
India is one of the most popular places to travel for medical treatments and for good reasons. India has at least one of the best qualified professionals in almost each and every field of medicine and this fact is starting to be realized all over the world. When it comes to medical facilities, India has the most competent doctors and medical facilities with the most competitive charges for treatment. India is eager to attract the millions of patients from the Unites States who are not covered by health insurance as well as the millions more in Western Europe who face long lists for treatment.
One of the most popular procedures to travel to India to receive is hip resurfacing. Hip Resurfacing is a bone-conserving alternative to conventional Total Hip Replacement, and is unapproved in the United States. Unlike Total Hip Replacement, hip Resurfacing does not involve the removal of the femoral head and neck nor removal of bone from the femur. Rather, the head, neck and femur bone is preserved in an effort to facilitate future surgery should it be necessary and to enable the patient to take advantage of newer technology or treatments in the future.
There are many advantages to hip resurfacing. It is more similar to the natural hip joint resulting in increased stability, flexibility and range of motion. Further, dislocation risk is virtually eliminated. In addition, the patient is able to move in a normal range of movement as well as participate in sporting activities after the operation. In general, the patient usually has earlier rehabilitation with this surgery then with total hip replacement, as well as a much less risk of dislocation or leg length alteration.
