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Alternative Mexican clinics give medical tourism a bad rap
Overseas hospitals can’t be compared to cross-border health centers
By KARIN BASARABA
The facility where Coretta Scott King spent the final moments of her life was shut down just days after her death. In light of this, many people have scrutinized these so-called alternative clinics, often located barely south of the US border.
But the difference between Mexican alternative clinics, and overseas hospitals that deal with international patients, couldn’t be bigger.
The clinics are often dubbed alternative because their methods of treatment are not approved in the United States. Most often, these clinics provide holistic treatment, which may include herbal injections, low-dose radiation and colonics.
However, the main difference between the Mexican clinics and overseas hospitals associated with medical tourism is the type of treatment offered. While cross-border health centers provide treatments that are often shunned or prohibited in the US, medical tourism related hospitals offer the same surgeries as North American hospitals. Generally speaking, medical tourism companies such as MedSolution offer an alternative location to North American treatment, not alternative treatment.
Meanwhile, Mexican health officials have tried to monitor both licensed and unlicensed clinics in the past without much success. In 2001, Baja California state officials tried to shut down several clinics, but were hindered by a lack of resources and patients who didn’t properly fill out forms.
"A few years ago a Mexican official shut down about 20 of these clinics," said Dr. Stephen Barrett, chairman of Quackwatch.org, in a recent Time magazine article. "After the shut down, the government changed and the clinics re-opened."
Officials for the state of Baja California said the clinic where Mrs. King sought care (she died before receiving any treatment) was shut down because it was operating without proper licenses and in violation of health regulations. The clinic will remain closed for at least 30 days, but could be allowed to re-open if hospital officials can prove they were operating under the terms of their license.
However, many medical tourism companies insist on extensive criteria before they sign a hospital as a partner. And these facilities not only have a long history of providing treatment to local residents, but international visitors too.
Before being considered for partnership, MedSolution must be able to verify the education, training and qualifications of the surgeons and anesthetists at the hospital with their respective universities and applicable professional associations. All partner staff must be able to converse with their clients in fluent English at all stages of care, from the nurses making the beds to the surgeons in the operating rooms.
Finally, MedSolution’s partner hospitals must undergo a rigorous site inspection before being considered and are required to meet or exceed North American standards for cleanliness, professionalism, safety and competency.
In addition to this list of criteria, many countries have their own stringent set of rules that hospitals must follow. "French hospitals are accredited by the French Health Authorities," said Antoine Guichard, spokesman for MedSolution.com’s hospitals in Paris. "It is mandatory for all French health care establishments and it is performed by an independent government agency."
"Surveyors have to report all instances of non-compliance with safety regulations and the accreditation report is delivered to regional administration authorities and a summary is made available to the public," he said.
Although the reason for selecting treatment at an alternative clinic varies for each individual, it is often a last resort for many. Most seeking treatment at these Mexican health centers are late-stage cancer patients, while others may be battling obesity and drug addiction.
The medical tourism industry offers treatment for these same ailments, but the surgeries have been tested and proven. The therapies at the cross-border clinics widely vary, however their practitioners say they don’t treat the symptoms, rather the underlying cause of the cancer, which they see as a buildup of toxins in the body that disrupt the immune system.
"We want the body to heal itself," said Michael Culbert, former information director for International BioCare Hospital in Tijuana, in an interview with The Globe and Mail. "We know that can’t be done by killing the body’s defenses."
But although Culbert said his center is two times more effective than traditional cancer therapies in the US, no such evidence of its effectiveness has been published in peer-review medical journals.
However, medical tourists are required to provide their medical records before traveling abroad for surgery. Both the patient’s family physician and the overseas surgeon have direct input into the procedure that will be performed. The lines of communication between the two doctors are as open as possible, so if any complications arise, both parties are well aware of the situation.
In fact, some of the procedures available to medical tourists are not yet performed in the US. Minimal invasion surgery in France and hip resurfacing in India, both available through MedSolution, provide the least amount of incisions and intrusion to the patient.
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