Seeking Treatment In Houston Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Seeking Treatment In Houston - Essay Example The center is ranked number 1 in cancer care by the U.S. News and World report. The center is also the best ranked in the number of grants and research, having invested more than $647 million in 2002 (M.D. Anderson 1). The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center receives as many inbound patients as outbound patients in its cancer center. An independent body dealing with international patients traveling to the M.D. Anderson is necessary to deal with the issue arising from medical tourism. The hospital needs to set up a center that welcomes international patients, while offering consultancy services from skilled personnel not directly related to the center so as to not compromise advice given to patients. The center should also have interpreters and people whose main duty is to find accommodation and to explain the different types of services that can be offered. Challenges of Medical Tourism One of the main challenges of medical tourism is language barriers. According to Hodges, Turner and Kimbal l (256) most of the patients who seek medical tourism in the United States come from less developed countries that do not use English as the main language. This causes problems in interaction between the patients and medical practitioners. According to a study reported from the Center for Studying Health System Change in 2010, almost 50% of American Doctors stated that language differences can be the reason for hampering high quality care (Reschovsky and Boukus 2). Without dealing with these problem, doctors may be unable to correctly identify the problem hence introduce an inappropriate cancer treatment method. Patient may also be unable to choose between the various treatments available as they do not fully understand the advice given by healthcare practitioners. International patients may also be faced with lack of full disclosure about all the possible treatment techniques from the doctors (Stolley and Watson 46). This may not be due to malice but due to lack of understanding of the patient capabilities or want. Doctors may also decide to choose a particular course of treatment for the patient without consulting the patient fully. Patients, especially those from poor countries, may lack enough knowledge about treatment techniques available thus following the advice they received from doctors in their home countries without fully appreciating the advanced systems of M.D Anderson Cancer Center. Another problem patients from abroad face is difficulty in managing resources especially finances (Stolley and Watson 126). Due to the time taken by cancer treatment courses, patients have to live temporarily in the United States. This means they have to find housing, food, utilities and other needs in a country that is foreign to them. Patients also have to contend with medical bills that range from treatment courses to medicine during this time. While the patient may have saved some money for the treatment, it is usually very likely that they undermine other expense s involved in living in a foreign country. A suitable solution for this problem has to be availed so as to ensure that the patient is able to smoothly maneuver during the cancer treatment period. With help in the management of finances, patients may drop