Health Tourism Medellin Colombia

It's not just that 100 million Americans will reach retirement age over the next 30 years, and growing numbers of them won't be able to afford the ever rising U.S. health care costs. Americans already are traveling to Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina and Chile, among other countries, for heart operations, cosmetic surgery or dental work at half the price, and with more personalized attention. Also, many US health insurance companies will not cover many elective surgeries.

Physicians in Medellin Colombia have been treating patients from all over the world for years, especially for cosmetic and eye surgery. Colombia has also become a recognized provider of advanced cardiovascular and transplant surgery. What often compels people to seek transplant surgery offshore is not only cost considerations, but waiting lists (such as in the U.S.) or the lack of an organized organ inventory and donor system in their home country. Colombia has such an organ donor and banking system which makes organs available to foreigners with certain legal restrictions. All Colombians are considered organ transplant donors unless otherwise documented.

Orthopedic surgeries, such as knee and hip replacements, are done in Colombia with U.S. made (FDA approved) prosthetics at a fraction of the cost.
Colombia has many surgeons that have either trained and/or practiced in other countries such as the U.S. and Europe. Salaries for doctors, nurses, and supporting personnel in Colombia are about 20% of U.S. salaries for similar occupations even though they are required to have the same level of education and job skills. Real estate costs related to medical care facilities are also only a fraction of what they are in the U.S.

Many Medellin travelers choose to have dental work performed while they are visiting Medellin. Local Medellin Dentists are well trained, have modern up to date equipment and offer everything from regular exams, X Rays, cleanings, implants, crowns and laser whitening at costs well below the US and other countries.

Cosmetic surgery is big business in Medellin. It doesn't hurt that this South American nation is enjoying a tourist boom that brought more than a million visitors to the country last year for the first time in two decades, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism. (Medellin is sometimes referred to as "Silicone Valley" (Silicone with an e)
Of all those people coming to Colombia, at least 3 percent come to get medical treatment. In 2009, about 31,000 people came for surgery and in 2010, about 40,000. That number continues to climb significantly every year.

Colombia's passion for implants is almost unmatched," Joshua Goodman noted in a recent Associated Press article. "According to the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than half of the 450,000 operations performed last year were breast augmentations, costing about $2,000 to $3,000 per procedure - more than half a year's salary for the 58 percent of the country living below the poverty line." Liposuction, face lifts and other cosmetic surgery procedures are not far behind.
With beauty reigning only second behind Futbol as a national past time, is it any wonder why cosmetic surgery is so popular here.

Note: Forty new plastic surgery clinics have opened up nationwide in Colombia to help service almost half a million procedures a year. Nely Galan, formerly of Telemundo TV network observed that for Latinas "Cosmetic surgery is maintenance... If you painted your house seven years ago and the paint is chipping, would you not paint it again?"

One advantage of Colombia for those from the U.S. and Canada is ease of travel and close proximity. Colombia offers cheaper airfares from the U.S. and Canada (and some European countries) than other destinations, such as those in Asia, and does not have the visa restrictions of other countries currently in the medical tourism marketplace.

Major Transplant and Cardiology Hospitals in Medellin

Mercadeo Hospital San Vicente
Claudia Sanchez
444 13 33 ext. 2100
This is for transplants

Clínica Cardiovascular
Congregación Mariana
Cl 78B 75-21
442 22 00
For heart surgery, heart and vessel stems (hemodinamic)

Clinica Medellín Cardiología
Sede centro Cl 53 # 46-38 P 2
Conmutador 511 73 78
Hemodinamica y cardiología intervencionista Ext. 128
Marcapasos y cardioesfibriladores electrofisiología y arritmias Ext. 130
Ecocardiografía y pruebas de esfuerzo 111
Ed. Note: We will get them translated but they are pretty obvious.

Hospital Pablo Tobón Uribe
441 52 52
Clínica El Rosario
444 15 55

Medellin Colombia Medical Tourism