Medical tourism: world experience, problems and prospects for development in Ukraine

Abstract

The article examines the experience of countries that have successfully worked in the medical tourism market for many years and the problems Ukraine has in the development of this industry. The successes of the branches of domestic medicine that can become the basis for the development of the sphere of medical medical tourism in Ukraine are highlighted. According to individual positions, Ukraine can compete with the leading countries of the world: there are a lot of highly qualified specialists in the domestic medicine that provide the highest quality assistance; prices for services are much lower than those in the European Union; our country is in the geographic center of Europe and has a sufficiently developed hotel and transport infrastructure. The most progressive directions currently are reproduction, ophthalmology, dentistry, cell therapy, plastic surgery, cardio surgery, aesthetic medicine. It is positive that in Ukraine today is a favorable legislative framework in the field of reproduction and cell therapy. This gives a lot of interest in obtaining this medical service in Ukraine. Foreign patients of oncological clinics also have a great interest in treatment in our country. Aesthetic medicine is today world-wide. Profit in this area is tens of billions of dollars. For the successful functioning of this industry in Ukraine, first of all, it must be legalized and simplified taxation system. An important issue is the accreditation of medical institutions in Ukraine, which will be a confirmation of the proper quality for potential clients. The certification of ISO 9001 will significantly affect the growing authority of medical institutions. The main flows of outbound medical tourism from Ukraine for the purpose of visiting and the countries where tourists visit the most often are analyzed. It is shown that successful development of the sphere of medical tourism will promote not only improvement of medical and service services, but also will work to create the image of Ukraine as an economically developed state. The current task of the present is to develop an effective program for the development of medical tourism, which would be consistent with the overall strategy. In order to achieve success in the field of medical tourism, it is necessary to combine efforts both from medicine and tourism. The development of on-line medical tourism is a prospect of attracting investment and receiving high profits to the state budget.