* Clinics and Hospitals Listed below.
Medellin’s prestige as an important center for medical treatment and aesthetic procedures has spread beyond the country’s borders to accomodate patients from all over the globe! Every year, thousands of foreigners from Central America, the Caribbean, Israel, Spain, England, Italy and the United States come to the city of Medellin for medical procedures.
The most common treatments are plastic surgery, refractive surgery, dental procedures, transplants as well as treatments related to heart problems and cancer. Most clinics and hospitals are now aware of their international reach and have appointed staff to assist foreign patients. As well, third party groups have organized to help assist the medical tourism industry including Salud Sin Fronteras (Health without Borders).
There are many factors that help to make Medellin a leading city in this emerging industry.
LOCATION – One of the first and foremost factors is the amazing climate the city enjoys experiencing spring-like weather year round. This is mainly due to its location in the highland tropic regions of the northern Andes mountains. The near perfect weather makes recuperation as enjoyable as it can be and the after care quality is top notch to boot.
DOCTORS – Also a factor is the sheer amount of well qualified doctors and surgeons in the city that come from prestigious medical schools such as the University of Antioquia, the University Pontifica Bolivariana, the Fundación Universitaria San Martín and the Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud (CES) to name a few. Many doctors and dentists graduate and specialize from these medical institutions and centers. As well, a good number of local health professionals pursue their studies abroad, where they have the opportunity to receive additional training and expertise.
COST – Cost of treatment is a big incentive for most who decide to take the trip to Medellin for their elective surgery/procedure. Often times as much as 50% less than that of comparable procedures in the USA, Europe or elsewhere, it is easy to see how many patients ultimately choose Medellin as their destination of choice in the emerging medical tourism industry.
FACILITIES & EQUIPMENT – The various clinics and hospitals available in the city themselves warrant serious medical attention from integrity conscious patients. Equipped with state of the art facilities and cutting edge equipment, many of the options around town rate as good or better than their first world counterparts. In fact, Medellin has become one of the leading cities in all of South America for transplant procedures due to a program that was started more than 30 years ago. Today, Medellin holds several accolades for transplants in Colombia, Latin America as well as the world.
TRANSPLANT ACCOLADES:
1973 – First kidney transplant with live donor in Colombia.
1974 – First successful kidney transplant with cadaver donor in Colombia.
1976 – First liver transplant in Latin America
1976 – First alogenic bone marrow transplant in Latin America.
2001 – First umbilical cord cell transplant in Colombia.
2002 – Second larynx transplant in the world.
2003 – First trachea transplant in the world.
2003 – First combined larynx-trachea transplant in the world.
2004 – First thin intestine transplant in Colombia.
2004 – First autologous transplant of parent cells from bone marrow via intracoronary, for patients with isquemic cardiac illness in Colombia.
LIST OF HOSPITALS & MEDICAL CLINICS IN MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA:
