What is the importance of medical checkups before traveling?
Whether it is a business trip, assignment, or vacation, falling ill in an unfamiliar destination country can be a bad and uncomfortable experience. It can be uncomfortable to access healthcare services.
The illness can disrupt your travels, and you might not complete your assignments. Sadly, you can prevent some of these illnesses if you go for medical checkups before traveling, which may ruin your traveling. So, what is a pre-travel checkup?
A pre-travel checkup is a medical examination your doctor performs on you when you are about to go doe a trip. You should undergo these checkups 4 weeks before traveling to give your doctor time to compile. test results for various conditions. These checkups are to protect you from contracting diseases while you are on a trip.
After accessing you, your doctor will determine whether you are fit to travel, advise you on the health risks of your destination country, or immunize you if necessary.
Some groups of people should go for pre-travel checkups before traveling. These are people with certain conditions like:
- Pregnant women
- Pediatric patients like infants and toddlers
- Autoimmune diseases
- Those suffering from chronic conditions like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, asthma, etc.
- Those having allergies
- Those with travel-related symptoms like traveler’s diarrhea, jet lag, and severe motion sickness.
- Those who underwent surgery recently
- If you are traveling to a country with certain health risks.
During the pre-travel checkups, your doctor will ask you the about;
- Your country destination
- Reasons for traveling
- How long you’ll take
- The activities you expect to engage in
- Your mode of transport
- The type of accommodation you expect
Importance of pre-travel checkups
After knowing those who should have mandatory checkups, it is important to know the benefits of pre-travel checkups, and they include:
- It helps you to identify pre-existing, new, and illnesses that you have a high chance of developing in your destination country. This will help you manage the existing illness or prevent you from contracting one.
- Helps manage and maintain your pre-existing condition with minimal disruption before traveling because you may find that your prescribed medications may not be available in your destination country or it may be illegal. With pre-travel checkups, your doctor will do their due diligence about your medication, and if they are not readily available, they will give you before your departure.
- It will relieve you of the hassle of looking for healthcare services in your destination country, especially if you travel to remote areas or underdeveloped countries.
- Pre-travel checkups will make you know if you are traveling to a country with a higher risk of certain conditions and if yes, you may take preventive measures like vaccination, immunization, or changing your lifestyle.
- If you are going for a business trip, it allows your employer to ensure depending on the risk of the travels
Conclusion
Performing a medical examination checkup before travel is the safest thing to do because it helps identify any illness you may have and take the necessary management procedure. It also helps you know your destination country well regarding health.
