Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global health care) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly growing practice of traveling across international borders to obtain health care.
A Deloitte study forecasts that the number of people turning to “medical tourism” will increase from 750,000 to 6 million by 2010, an eightfold increase. (“Medical tourism represents a $2.1 billion business, study shows”)
There are various reasons why patients travel for treatment:
- From US -Medical tourists are seeking treatment at a quarter or sometimes even a 10th of the cost at home.
- From Canada - people discouraged by long waiting lists.
- From Great Britain - patients that can’t wait for treatment by the National Health Service (NHS). Also, a private physician is too expensive.
- Others - want to combine a tropical vacation with cosmetic surgery and/or other treatments.
- From Poorer countries - more patients are coming from poorer countries such as Bangladesh where proper treatments may not be available.
The benefits go beyond cost: (‘Medical Tourism’ Industry Grows Rapidly)
- Consumers gain from cost savings and also receive excellent care from highly qualified doctors.
- Many providers offer more personalized care i.e. a higher physician-to-patient ratio–than is commonly available in the Western world.
- Some services that are not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as certain hip replacement surgery techniques, are available overseas.
However, consumers also face risks when undergoing treatment in a foreign country:
- Follow-up is difficult when the patient returns home, and expensive care may be required if complications occur.
- Quality assessment is problematic, and the language barrier can complicate matters.
- Malpractice laws in other countries are different.
Cuba, Costa Rica, Hungary, India, Israel, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia and Thailand are active in promoting medical tourism. Belgium, Poland and Singapore are also entering the field.
India is considered to be the leader amongst other countries promoting medical tourism and now it is moving into a new area of “medical outsourcing”, where subcontractors provide services to the overburdened medical care systems in western countries.
India’s National Health Policy declares that treatment of foreign patients is legally an “export” and deemed “eligible for all fiscal incentives extended to export earnings.” Government and private sector studies in India estimate that medical tourism could bring between $1 billion and $2 billion US into the country by 2012. The reports estimate that medical tourism in India is growing by 30 per cent a year. (Medical Tourism India)
Today, a fact that is well known globally is that some of the best doctors in the world are Indian. The quality of health care in India has improved dramatically and the economic implications of Medical Tourism are too large to be ignored, even by the government. All these factors combined with the substantially lower costs and English-speaking population have allowed India to become the leader in Medical Tourism.
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