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The Medical Tourism Association Hosts Familiarization Tour to Medellin Colombia

The Medical Tourism Association hosts a FAM Tour to the forever place of spring time, Medellin, Colombia from December 8th-12th, 2009. Nine medical tourism facilitators, insurance companies and agents representing the United States, Canada and Caribbean explored the high quality healthcare system, accreditation, warmth and hospitality Colombia has to offer medical tourism patients.

“The cost, quality, and technology present a real option for US patients to strongly consider. The organization of the tour was a perfect blend of site visits, education, information, tourism, and networking.” Said Kemal Canlar, President, Global Benefit Options.

The familiarization tour was sponsored by the Medellin Healthcare Cluster, with a goal of promoting Medellin as a competing medical tourism destination. The Familiarization Tour included visits to some of the top hospitals in Colombia such as: Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paul, Hospital General de Medellin, Clincia El Rosario, Centro Odontologico Congregacion Mariana, Clincia Odontologica Promta, Hospital Pablo Tobon Uribe, Clinica Cardiovascular, and Clinica Oftalmolgica de Antioquia-Colfan. In addition, participants had the opportunity to visit state of the art air-ambulance company SARPA.

“Medellin is a wonderful city that offers great healthcare and is ready to welcome an international market of patients. The services their hospitals offer are competitive and the quality of care is evident." explained Lara Stuart of WorldMedAssist, a medical tourism facilitation company.

Colombia is located in South America bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama. Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on both the North Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and is persistently growing given the ongoing development in domestic security since 2002. Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia, and Capital City of the State of Antioquia. With countless tourism activities for visitors, Medellin serves as a popular destination for international travelers. Medellin is committed to position itself as one of the major players in the health and wellness sector of the Medical Tourism Industry.

Following the “Fam” Tour, Medellin will be featured in issue 14 of the Medical Tourism Magazine, the only educational trade magazine in the Medical Tourism Industry. To read previous issues, please go to: http://www.MedicalTourismMag.com.

The goal of a Medical Tourism Familiarization Tour is to highlight the quality of care within the specific region. One of the main reasons is to introduce the region as a destination for medical tourism and to generate an interest from “buyers” to send patients to the hospitals and clinics visited on the tour. During the trip participants visit hospitals and clinics, and also engage in tourism activities that a potential patient may enjoy.

The Medical Tourism Association at http://www.MedicalTourismAssociation.com is made up of the top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical tourism facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliated companies and members with the common goal of promoting the highest level of quality of healthcare to patients in a global environment. Our Association promotes the interests of its healthcare provider and medical tourism facilitators members. The Medical Tourism Association has three tenets: Transparency, Communication and Education.

The Medical Tourism Association seeks to provide transparency in both quality of care and pricing. Every day we see more and more that the globalization of healthcare has created a very flat world. We exchange technology, information, communication, physicians and patients. In order to ensure patient safety, it is our goal to create a transparency about the quality of healthcare that can be found in each country. With this, it is increasingly important to create a transparency in pricing as well so patients traveling overseas for care can be sure of what they are receiving without hidden costs or unforeseen expenses. The Medical Tourism Association is also working on the Quality of Care Project, which will change the way we look at the reporting of global healthcare statistics and the quality of care available at hospitals around the world.

For more information contact Stephanie Falcone USA 001.561.791.2000 stephanie@medicaltourismassociation.com

The Medical Tourism Association is the first international non-profit association made up of the top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical travel facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliated companies and members with the common goal of promoting the highest level of quality of healthcare to patients in a global environment. Our Association promotes the interests of its healthcare provider and medical tourism facilitators members. The Medical Tourism Association has three tenets: Transparency, Communication and Education.