Russia (bbabo.net) - Foreign tourists who were treated in the Kuban received about 5.5 thousand medical services for a year for a total of more than 49 million rubles.
Citizens of other states can apply to hospitals in the region, both those who have arrived on business, and those who purposefully arrived for treatment. Moreover, they all receive emergency assistance free of charge. The most in demand among foreign patients are medical services in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. They also quite often turn to therapists and traumatologists.
It is worth noting that the concept of "medical tourism" entered the speech circulation quite recently, therefore it is often confused with medical and recreational trips offered by tour operators. However, experts from the Ministry of Health clarify: this implies the provision of planned medical services outside the region of residence, the combination of recreation abroad with the receipt of highly qualified medical care. Such tourism stimulates medicine, and also helps to build a complex system of interconnection of clinics, services, infrastructure and logistics.
- Medical tourism is a new socio-economic phenomenon. This state program in our country began to be actively developed only since 2018, - says the head of the regional center for the export of medical services in the Krasnodar Territory Azamat Maremkulov. - The project provides for the provision of a full range of medical services to foreign citizens. Those who, for example, came to the World Cup and got sick, or those who were injured while skiing in a winter resort. Of course, the pandemic has stalled the growth of this service industry. For comparison: in 2019, more than seven thousand foreigners applied to hospitals, and in 2020, much less, 5.5 thousand. But over time, the restrictions will still be lifted. Otherwise, nothing has changed: citizens of other states living in the Kuban continue to receive medical services in full.
Various procedures and diagnostic examinations in Russia are many times cheaper than in European clinics The interest of foreign guests in Russian clinics is explained by a number of reasons. First of all, it is the availability of treatment: various procedures and diagnostic examination are many times cheaper here than in European centers. As for the Kuban, there is also a mild climate, the proximity of the Black and Azov Seas, which allows you to combine treatment and recreation. The region has a significant hotel stock, with 40 4-star and 5-star hotels operating under the brands of international chains. And for the hospitality industry, this is an additional influx of customers.
The quality of medical care also affects demand. In recent years, within the framework of the national health care project, hospitals have been intensively equipped with modern diagnostic equipment, computed tomography scanners, and angiographic complexes. In October of this year, the second new generation robot-surgeon-oncologist began work in the regional clinical hospital No. 1. The first Da Vinci surgical system appeared here in 2014, and with its help more than two thousand surgeries have already been performed. However, it is not so much English-language advertising on the websites of clinics and brochures at international airports that helps foreigners get acquainted with this side of the tourist business, but large-scale events. For example, the Winter Olympics in Sochi were remembered for the high level of medical support. Then more than 8.5 thousand participants and guests of the Games turned to doctors.
Traditionally, guests from the CIS (mainly residents of Armenia, Abkhazia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) travel to Krasnodar Territory most often. The absence of a language barrier and the similarity of the healthcare system play an important role. 20 percent of the flow is accounted for by guests from Asia and far abroad: Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt, Serbia and Germany. Now the service in the hospitals of the region is focused on English-speaking patients, but, perhaps, in the future it will be intensively adapted for guests from Arab countries.
“We are actively collecting reviews from foreign citizens, so that later, with their consent, we can broadcast to the potential public,” continues Azamat Maremkulov. “Surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, hematology and oncology are in demand among foreign patients. On the basis of KKB No. 1, the Department of Thoracic Surgery was formed, where the European School of Thoracic Surgery works annually. Foreign experts participating in the forums then share the information they receive with their colleagues. In the future, we plan to develop rehabilitation technologies, taking into account the large number of sanatoriums.
Officially, the export of medical services is carried out by 18 organizations. These are practically all large regional institutions in Krasnodar, some medical institutions in Sochi and Gelendzhik. However, there are much more organizations that partially provide such services.
Breathing rehabilitation
In the health resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, more than 17 thousand people underwent health improvement according to post-like recovery programs. These are residents of the Kuban and other regions. In total, 53 sanatoriums with a capacity of 37 thousand beds are accepted for rehabilitation. Many of them are located on the Black Sea coast. In the regional center, rehabilitation is carried out by the Krasnodar balneological institution. According to the Ministry of Resorts, in seven sanatoriums of Anapa, Gelendzhik and Goryachiy Klyuch it is possible to undergo a recovery course at the expense of compulsory medical insurance in the direction of state medical institutions. Procedures that involve additional physical activity are added to the standard set of medical services: physiotherapy exercises, exercises to restore breathing.By the way
The reliability of all 18 clinics in the Krasnodar Territory is ensured by state control and certification. True, only the second regional clinical hospital has an international certificate of the quality of medical services.
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