News
This Week in Medical Tourism: 27 August – 16 September 2026
South Korea treated 2.01 million foreign patients in 2025, yet the first half of 2026 added almost no new cardholders: average spending per card rose 30.1 per cent while the number of cards used rose 1.0 per cent. India set a target of 10 million patients a year against medical visa issuance that has fallen in each of the last two years.
This Week in Medical Tourism: 20–26 August 2026
Indian government counts put foreign medical arrivals at 507,244 in 2025 against 644,387 in 2024. Bangladesh supplied 325,127 of the later figure and 482,336 of the earlier one. Four governments moved on the unregulated edge of the trade in the same week.
This Week in Medical Tourism: 13–19 August 2026
China's National Health Commission put 1.28 million international patients through its key foreign-oriented hospitals, a rise of 73.6 per cent in three years. Latvia counted 35,851 and a fall of a quarter. The two numbers do not measure the same thing.
South Korea Undercuts America but Not Turkey
A Seoul rhinoplasty costs a quarter to a half of the American price. A Seoul veneer costs more than a British one and several times a Turkish one. The destination is not the unit of comparison. The procedure is.
Spain and Greece Report IVF Success Differently
Two of Europe's largest fertility destinations quote comparable prices and comparable-sounding success rates. Only one of them has a national registry a patient can check the claim against.
Mexico and Turkey Price Against Different Home Markets
Tijuana quotes in US dollars. Istanbul quotes in sterling. Neither quotes in its own currency, and the multiple each corridor lands on says more about the patient than about the local cost of surgery.
Turkey's Deepest Discounts Sit on Its Safest Procedures
Four Health Tourism News guides price four Turkish procedures against the same British patient. Rank them by saving and rank them by what goes wrong, and the two lists come out close to reversed.
Dental Implant Prices Abroad Hide Three Different Units
Across six Health Tourism News country guides a single implanted tooth runs from $270 to $3,150. Part of that spread is price. A good part of it is that the six markets do not headline the same thing.
This Week in Medical Tourism: 6–12 August 2026
Vietnam's health ministry has put both sides of its medical travel ledger in one document: an estimated USD 1 to 2 billion coming in each year against USD 2 to 3 billion going out. Nigeria, Bangladesh and India moved on the same arithmetic in the same week, and the market estimates their governments were working from do not agree.
Why Medical Tourism to Germany Declined
The Legal and Systemic Causes
This Week in Medical Tourism: 30 July – 5 August 2026
Dermatology has overtaken plastic surgery as the largest category of foreign medical spending in South Korea, at 67.5% against 21.3% in the first half of 2026, reversing the 2024 split. Medical services grew 98% year on year, faster than any other category BC Card reports. Australia, Nigeria and India each published figures on their own patient flows in the same week.
This Week in Medical Tourism: 22–29 July 2026
South Korea treated 2.01 million foreign patients in 2025, up 71.7 per cent on the year, and nearly a third of them came from China. Uzbekistan drew 93.9 per cent of its patients from three neighbours and 119 from the rest of the world combined. Eight days of government announcements were aimed at the country next door, not at long-haul demand.