tiburontucson

Not planning travel anytime soon, but am trying to plan for future travel.
IF you were to contract Covid-19 during your travels, where would medical care be sufficiently advanced that you would feel comfortable traveling to that country and possibly being hospitalized there?
For example, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities just came out with a document outlining their plan to resume travel to tourists, which states
"The Ministry of Health and Population will cover the cost of medication and treatment of tourists testing positive with COVID-19 until their full recovery"
egyptologyforum.org/MOA/ResumptionTourism.pdf
You do have the option of arranging your own transportation "home" if you like.
In general, I'm wondering which countries would be at the top of your list of advanced healthcare facilities "just in case"

gaelflyer

This is a question with multiple dimensions. One relevant factor is that some places now have a lot of experience of Covid19, for example Italy, and this experience could be helpful in treating Covid19 beyond any other general capacity. But if you were simply to use fatality rates in March or some other measure this capacity would not be evident.

tiburontucson

Bingo. Experience of the healthcare facilities due to knowledge gained from prior cases, availability of newer pharmaceuticals now known to be effective in reducing duration of Covid symptoms, current availability of beds, language barriers....all are factors in considering international travel now. Never in my prior travels was availability or expertise of healthcare of much concern.

GadgetFreak

When I have traveled to some areas of the world I have paid for a travel insurance policy that covered healthcare in other countries, had clinics in some cities around the world and had a 24/7 phone number to call for guidance or referrals. It also included evacuation if needed. I used the call in once, from Cambodia and the call and referral once, in Zambia.

I got very sick in Zambia and called the help number. I described where I was and what my symptoms were and the first thing the doctor said was “are you taking malaria prophylaxis?” I did a silent (or maybe not silent) oh crap and told him what I was taking. He explained that their closest clinic they owned was in Johannesburg so he was going to call there and try to find me a doctor nearby where I could get evaluated and tested for malaria. If they couldn’t find one they were going to have to decide whether to medivac me to Johannesburg or Europe. A short time later a doctor from Johannesburg called and gave me the name and number of a doctor nearby that was educated and board certified in the US and had on site testing capabilities. We got in a cab to go to the office and when we told the driver where we were going he said “how did you find him, he’s the best doctor in the country.” It wasn’t malaria, he gave me some meds that helped pretty quickly as well as what to watch for if it got worse and some general guidance on when I should feel better so we could plan. Priceless. So I think it’s not so much what country but how readily you can find care some places.