How Croatian patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have been turned into medical tourists – a comment on a medical and social phenomenon

In the last few weeks, Croatia has witnessed a rarely seen surge of public interest in neurologic disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In a rather organized manner and with significant media support, money was raised to send Croatian patients suffering from ALS to China to receive a treatment referred to as “stem cell therapy.” Even before this action, individual Croatian patients, including children suffering from a variety of diseases, tried on their own to seek this type of “therapy.” What makes the current situation specific is that a subgroup of patients offered to another group of patients a financially covered “package” for a treatment in a hospital in China without consulting their doctors or other Croatian medical experts. Upon returning home, the patients, together with their doctors and families, are now facing consequences of this medical and social phenomenon.