Australia's SkyGen, CosMediTour offer cheap surgery in Asia
02-Sep-16, The Australian
This is not medical tourism in the traditional sense, where people travel overseas for mostly cosmetic procedures, lured by cheaper prices and a holiday lifestyle. This, says Daniel Donner, co-founder of SkyGen, is about creating an avenue for Australians who feel “kind of stuck”. “The majority of our customers are uninsured patients with option of private surgery they can’t afford and public surgery can’t wait for.”
%20Lyndon%20Mechieslen.jpg "Australias SkyGen CosMediTour offer cheap surgery in Asia (c) Lyndon Mechieslen")
Image: Lyndon Mechieslen
SkyGen offers to help people find orthopedic and spinal surgery in Thailand and Germany, through association with another booking company CosMediTour, which focuses more on cosmetic procedures. In Australia, every health stakeholder is worried about rising costs, which exacerbate the perennial issue of the waiting list.
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons paper on medical tourism acknowledges waiting times contribute to the number of people heading overseas. But the paper warns of paperwork hassles, unidentified implants, fragmentation of care and misleading advertising leaving Australians unhappy with outcomes or unprepared for complications.