How many foreigners come to Cali to get health procedures done? Tourists visiting Colombia for medical reasons come mainly from the US, Spain, Germany, Venezuela, the Caribbean and Canada. But accurate statistics on these flows of “medical tourists” are hard to come by. The local press regularly quotes estimates of 20,000-30,000 annual visitors arriving in the country for medical reasons. It is suggested that the number probably dropped in the years following the global economic recession, and now current pandemic, although figures have more recently begun to recover.

According to the Oxford business group, foreigners visiting Colombia for medical reasons spent a total of $216m in 2014, up 61% on $134m the year before.

One of the incentives for inward health tourism is the relatively low cost of medical procedures, which are nevertheless carried out to high professional standards. For example, a heart bypass operation that would cost $80,000 in the US can cost as little as $26,000 in Colombia. Knee replacement surgery, which in the US costs $40,000, can be $15,000 in Colombia. These prices date from early 2015, and the depreciation of the Colombian peso will have reduced the dollar cost still further.

The main hospitals attracting medical tourism are in Bogotá and Cali. Bogotá is strong in cardiology, while in Cali we specialized in laser eye surgery, cosmetic surgery and dentistry. A survey by business publication América Economía showed that Cali has 6 of the top 42 hospitals and clinics in Latin America. Some 300,000 plastic surgery operations are carried out each year in Colombia.

You can be one of the foreigners that come to our city to get general procedures done.
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