Topics for IELTS/Health & Body
Basic concepts:
- Find definitions or explain in your own words the following concepts:
Welfare state
Healthcare system
National health insurance
Private medical insurance/coverage
Alternative/holistic medicine
Controversial issues:
- Brainstorm the following topics:
The government should provide its citizens with a free health care system.
The government should allocate an important part of its health budget on preventive and educational measures.
Reading 1
German Health Care Attracts Foreign Patients
By NICHOLAS KULISH and CHRIS COTTRELL
Published: December 20, 2012 / The New York Tiemes
BERLIN — When Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq, needed advanced medical care for a stroke suffered this week, he flew not to the United States or Britain but to Germany, for treatment here in the capital
For many Americans, Germany is known as a way station where soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan received immediate medical care on United States military bases. But it is also a popular destination for wealthy and prominent patients from the Middle East, Russia and beyond, experts say.
Before the Arab Spring uprisings, the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak traveled to Munich in 2004 for back treatment and to Heidelberg in 2010 to have his gallbladder removed. Last year, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan reportedly had a surgical procedure on his prostate at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.
According to German government statistics, the number of hospital patients from the United Arab Emirates rose to 1,754 from 339 between 2000 and 2010, the most recent year available. From Saudi Arabia, the figure climbed to 712 from 143. The numbers from Iraq were smaller but still rose to 176 from 95. Over the same period, the number of Russians jumped to 4,873 from 842.
“We have one of the worldwide best health care systems and people from abroad know that,” said Isabella Beyer, research associate in medical tourism at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. Mr. Talabani, 79, is among them; he was treated before for back trouble.
Mr. Talabani is now being cared for at Berlin’s Charité hospital, which is more than 300 years old and is one of Europe’s largest university hospitals. The storied institution was home to several Nobel Prize winners, including Robert Koch and Paul Ehrlich. A spokeswoman for Charité, Manuela Zingl, confirmed that Mr. Talabani was being treated there but said that she could not disclose any information on his condition because of rules on medical privacy.
Mr. Talabani was said to be in “stable” condition after suffering a stroke this week, though there were unconfirmed reports that he was in a coma. He was rushed to the Baghdad Medical City on Monday.
He was treated there by medical experts from Iran, Germany and Britain, according to Iraqi staff members. Barazan Sheik Othman, the head of the presidential media office, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Talabani left for Germany accompanied by doctors after they established that he was well enough to be transferred.
Hospitals and clinics here have increasingly sought to market themselves as a destination for international patients. Ms. Beyer said that Germany benefited from a combination of lower prices than the United States but still provided high-quality care. Shorter waiting times and the proximity to the Middle East also helped.
“Before, a lot flew to Geneva,” said Salah Atamna, 44, whose business, Europe Health, seeks to link up patients from abroad with German hospitals and clinics.
Many wealthy Arabs would fly to Germany in the summer to escape the blistering heat at home, Mr. Atamna said, scheduling their vacation to coincide with an operation or other treatment. They often traveled with family members and large entourages. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it became harder to acquire visas to the United States, and medical travelers began searching for alternatives.
Reading practice 1
Match names of patients and specialists to facts mentioned in the article:
Manuela Zingl
Hosni Mubarak
Barazan Sheik Othman
Salah Atamna
Jalal Talabani
Isabella Beyer
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Is in charge of the presidential PR service
Is a specialist and researcher in medical tourism
Builds connections between German clinics and their foreign customers
Had his prostate operated
Is a PR specialist for one of Berlin’s hospitals
Was treated for a stroke and for back troubles
Had a gallbladder surgery, was treated for back pains
Vocabulary practice 2
If the patient _______ _______ _______ ______, First Aid staff should call 9-1-1 or request medical transport through their chain of command.
The BBC presenter Andrew Marr, 53, is recovering in hospital after_______ _ _______, the BBC has confirmed.
Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris missed practice on Monday and revealed he had _ ________ _______ on his knee in March.
Victoria Heights Residential Care is an elegant, spacious, purpose-built facility which has continuously ______ ______ _______ _____ since opening in 2005.
Comparison of the ______ ______ ______ in Canada and the United States are often made by government, public health and public policy analysts.
Tymoshenko is on temporary release from prison, being _______ _ _____ _______ in hospital.
Reading 2
Hospitals Stretch into a New Area: Sweating Clients
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: June 7, 2003
STAMFORD, Conn., June 6— With free valet parking, the lot attendants can barely keep up with the stream of people arriving to work out at the hottest fitness center in town.
A little over a year since it opened, the gym at Tully Health Center has signed up 2,400 members and is adding 20 a week. On a recent weeknight, rows of treadmills were packed with a mostly middle-aged crowd tuned to the machines' personal television sets. Nearby, 20 well-toned bodies unwound to New Age music as the yoga instructor urged them to let their anxieties ''slip right away.''
Oddly enough, the gym is part of a hospital system and shares a building with walk-in clinics, diagnostic imaging machines and outpatient surgical teams. Like hundreds of hospital operators across the country, hungry for new sources of revenue, the Stamford Health System is getting into the fitness game under the mantra of disease prevention.
Odder still, the hospital system says its center, the Health and Fitness Institute, is not really a health club. To get the city's blessing for the project, the system agreed to limit membership to people undergoing rehabilitation and those who had acute or chronic diseases or were at ''high risk'' of developing them.
By all indications, that hasn't stopped system employees from applying a liberal definition of who is at risk. In addition to people with a history of heart, respiratory or other ailments, the center admits those who say they have two of these risk factors: having a sibling or parent who had heart disease, cancer or diabetes before age 55; being more than 20 pounds overweight; working out fewer than two times a week; having smoked at any time; or being a man older than 55 or a woman older than 45.
The admission policy has been good for business, but it is not popular with rival fitness club owners who say the hospital system is in a position to unfairly crush the competition, given its deep pockets, political clout and exemptions from most federal and local taxes.
''Their business is providing critical care, not preventive care,'' said Richard Beusman, an owner of Sportsplex in Stamford. ''In our country, that's typically been the job of a commercial operator who pays full taxes and mortgages.''
Here, as elsewhere around the country, local officials say they wonder whether the nonprofit institutions in their backyard are paying their share of taxes. Neighbors grumble about the hubbub in what used to be a quiet zone. And some feel that scarce health dollars could have been better spent.
''It's an impressive edifice, no question,'' Mary A. Bohen, a neighbor and member of the center, said of the $79 million building. ''But you wonder whether that was really how the health system in Stamford should have been allocating its resources.''
System officials say the move into fitness is justified. While current and former managers of the center say it is not yet paying its way, the hope is that it will eventually help support hospital services that have been threatened by managed care and cuts in government reimbursement.
''The whole point was for preventive medicine, with the idea that if people become members of the fitness club now, they may not need to use the hospital later,'' said Scott Orstad, a spokesman for Stamford Health System.
About 550 hospitals across the nation have opened fitness centers, according to the Medical Fitness Association, their trade group. All offer physical rehabilitation services, but many have spent tens of millions on far more ambitious projects.
One success story, Akron General Health System in Ohio, opened its fitness center in 1996 and turned a profit two years later. With everything from cardiac rehabilitation to mud wraps and pedicures, the center has become the model for many hospitals, including Stamford's.
The fitness center's genesis here dates to 1996, when St. Joseph Medical Center, a financially-plagued Roman Catholic hospital, was looking for a buyer. Stamford Health System -- which runs Stamford Hospital, the city's only other hospital -- paid $12.88 million for the property with the hope of converting it into an outpatient center that would complement services it offered across town.
From the beginning, the idea was to create a place where people who had, or were at risk of getting, health problems could work out under medical supervision, away from the intimidating Spandex-clad fitness buffs found in other gyms. The hospital's team emphasized that point when it sought an exemption from zoning regulations so that it could tear down St. Joseph and begin work.
Georgiana D. White, who sits on the zoning board, approved the deal but now has doubts. ''I remember clearly asking the presenters for the applicant if indeed it was going to be just another health club, because Stamford has ample health clubs,'' she said. ''And I was assured it would be a medical facility. Whether they respect that, I'm doubtful, because I myself have gotten fliers asking me to join and, thank God, I have no need for recuperative care.''
Employees have coached some applicants on how to fill out the forms.
''I sent over my sales manager, who is perfectly healthy, just to see what's going on,'' said Glenn Colarossi, the manager of the Stamford Athletic Club. ''They said: 'Oh, you're 50. You must be menopausal. Write down 'hormonal changes.' ''
Many members, typically paying $69 a month, have only the fuzziest idea that there are barriers to entry. ''Anyone can join,'' said Phyllis Hudson, 56, an administrative assistant who said she takes medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol but is otherwise healthy. ''It's easy to join,'' she said, ''as long as you can pay the fee.''
Mr. Colarossi said the hospital could have collaborated with area health clubs to avoid ill will. ''Stamford definitely needed two hospitals, not a huge health facility,'' he said.
He lost about 60 of 1,600 members to the new club, he said. The only thing he has gained, he said, are doctors from the Tully Health Center who prefer to work out at his place ''because they don't want to run into patients and get asked a lot of health questions during their workouts.''
Reading practice 3
The author finds it unusual and strange that the sport and medical facilities be located in the same building and be part of the same system.
The hospital management initially meant to limit the access to the gym to people with health problems, but did not stick to this rule.
The owners of other sport centers believe that one more sport facility will provide fair competition.
People living near the hospital are happy with the occasion to have a gym so close to their homes.
The management of St. Joseph Medical Center thought that their patients would find it less threatening to work out among other patients rather than with sport addicts in regular gyms.
Patients are obliged to lie about their health condition in order to be admitted to the hospital gym.