Choosing the right international hospital for your treatment is, undeniably, the most crucial step in planning a medical tour. It can be a difficult task, especially if you are not physically present in the country, often leaving an important question lingering in your mind: “How do I choose the right international hospital for my treatment?”
Following are a few tips from Chennai Medicare Tourism (CMT) to keep you afloat the mind-boggling overload of information available online & to aid you in the selection of the right hospital & the doctor for your medical treatment.
Accreditation
Joint Commission International (JCI), a recognized world leader in Healthcare quality & patient safety, provides accreditation & certification to international hospitals offering facilities/ services with a focus on improving the safety & quality of patient care. Hospitals are assessed against optimal standards of quality that are regarded as international benchmarks. Patients are advised to use the services of hospitals that have the JCI accreditation.
More information on JCI accreditation and certification can be found here: http://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/
To check or find out if a hospital is JCI accredited and certified, please use the following link: http://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/JCI-Accredited-Organizations/
Chennai Medicare Tourism takes pride in associating only with JCI accredited hospitals. Please submit the enquiry form to obtain a list of hospitals that we have a tie-up with.
Experience
Chennai Medicare Tourism recommends patients to choose hospitals that have been offering healthcare services for a minimum of five years. In other words, ensure that the hospital has been in operation for at least five years. The Internet, being a generous provider of information, would give a good deal of information about the hospital profile, right from age, history etc., to infrastructure, accreditation & other such important info as may be required in aid of your decision.
Then comes the choice of doctor; when choosing the doctor, make sure that the doctor is well experienced in the specific field. You can request the hospital to furnish the concerned doctor(s)’ portfolio. Remember, choosing the right doctor is just as important as choosing the right international hospital.
Language
Patients are advised to choose doctors that are fluent with their language. Patients from United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada etc should ensure that their physician can converse well in English so that the physician and you can understand each other correctly. In Chennai, English is the primary language used in hospitals. If English is not your native language, then request your medical tourism facilitator to engage the services of a translator.
Research
Without doubt, the Internet has vast information on each & every medical condition & the relevant treatment options available in today’s world. CMT recommends patients to research in detail about the treatment(s) available/chosen, well ahead of their tour. Patients should be well versed with the following before they come down for the treatment:
Treatment Options
Chosen Treatment specifics / procedure
After-care procedures
Google is a valuable tool to obtain the above information. Use multiple websites / references to learn the above.
Reference
Patients are also advised to touch base with other patients who have already had a medical tourism experience. A medical tourism facilitator can also be requested to provide reference for a hospital or a doctor.
Compare
And last but not the least, CMT recommends its patients to do a comparison of the hospitals and doctors before they finalize on the international hospital. ‘Cost’ should not be the only factor that should be taken into consideration while choosing a hospital.
We hope these tips are useful in aiding your hospital/doctor selection process. Some Medical Tourism providers, like CMT, facilitate your research, if you so prefer, by guiding you through the process & sourcing out/ providing all the information you require to make a well-informed decision.
Tags: accredited hospitals, generous provider, international hospitals, least five years, quality amp