Medical Tourism: Patients Without Borders

INTRODUCTION

In the past, residents of less developed nations would travel to more advanced hospitals in wealthy nations to receive superior medical care that was not available to them in their home countries.¹ Medical tourism is not the same as the typical kind of international medical care, where patients go from developing nations to affluent nations’ major medical institutions for advanced medical care.² This also significantly impacts a nation’s economic growth. In 2008, the healthcare industry accounted for 9.0% of the gross domestic product in most of the developed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The United States (16%), France (11.2%) and Switzerland (10.7%) were the top three spenders.³

Several Asian countries actively promote medical tourism, including China, India, Singapore, Israel, the Philippines, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Similarly, in the Americas, popular medical tourism destinations include Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Jamaica and the United States. In Europe, countries such as Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Poland are notable for their medical tourism industries, while South Africa remains the primary destination on the African continent for this sector.²

PROS OF MEDICAL TOURISM

CONS OF MEDICAL TOURISM

Medical tourism has various drawbacks that local medical treatment does not. The savings are attractive, but a new hip and a stunning new face do not seem like a thing anyone would want to bargain for. How does the savings-versus-risk trade-off affect success rates?

Substandard medical care is not worth any cost, and some antagonists believe that surgeries performed in Third World countries cannot be as good as surgeries performed in First World countries.

Truthfully, there have been incidents of botched plastic surgery, notably from clinics in underdeveloped countries, before anybody recognised what a gold mine low-cost, high-quality treatment could be for poor countries. Nonetheless, the hospitals and clinics that cater to the tourist sector are generally among the best in the world, and many are staffed by physicians who have received their training at major medical institutes in the United States and Europe. Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok boasts almost 200 board-certified surgeons from the United States, and one of Singapore’s most prominent hospitals is a part of the famed Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In a sector where expertise is as vital as technology, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre in Delhi and Faridabad, India, performs approximately 15,000 heart procedures yearly, with a 0.8 per cent mortality rate during surgery – less than half that of most major hospitals in the United States. Advanced research infrastructures also support clinics in some countries. India is one of the world’s leading biotechnology research countries, and both India and South Korea are moving forward with stem cell research at a pace rivalled only by the United Kingdom. In addition, compared to Western clinics, many foreign clinics have more registered nurses per patient. Some of these clinics offer single-patient rooms that are akin to hotel bedrooms, with a nurse assigned to each patient for the whole day.¹⁰

FACTORS IMPACTING MEDICAL TOURISTS

The five factors that draw medical tourists are as follows:

• Demand: People have relocated to other healthcare destinations due to extensive waiting lists in developed nations.

• Affordability and cost: A country’s affordable cost of medical services makes it an appealing healthcare destination. Compared to wealthy nations, the cost of sophisticated surgical operations in developing countries is about one-tenth of the price.

• Accessibility: A country becomes a popular destination for medical tourism due to its low cost and easy access through flights from all over the world. In addition, the it’s advantageous exchange rate makes it a financially feasible substitute

• Communication: The healthcare workforce of the country should be good at communicating fluently in English in order to make it one of the favoured destinations for medical tourism. Telemedicine advancements can also assist patients in receiving follow-up treatment and rehabilitation therapy following major surgery. This avoids the need for patients to return to the nation.¹¹

Some insurance firms have promoted the adoption of foreign medical options as a part of conventional medical healthcare insurance policies for American patients. Blue Cross Blue Shield has adopted this approach in both Florida and Wisconsin, where the firm has given its members the authority to choose overseas medical institutions as a low-cost alternative.¹²

LATEST TRENDS IN MEDICAL TOURISM

According to an analysis of the UK Office of National Statistics International Passenger Survey, the United Kingdom has witnessed a significant rise in individuals traveling overseas for medical care over the past decade.¹³

In 2010, 15% of all UK medical tourists travelled to East Asia, a 430%increase since 2003.¹⁴

The International Passenger Survey indicates that by 2013, the number of people traveling to the UK for medical care has decreased relative to the number of UK nationals traveling abroad.¹⁵

The medical tourism industry has grown to the extent that the Medical Tourism Association hosts the World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress every year, which draws thousands of medical professionals from almost 200 nations, including Nigeria, Costa Rica, India and Turkey. Similar gatherings have also been attended by American insurance companies.¹⁶

There have also been medical tourists who travel from the more affordable and approachable countries such as India and Taiwan to relatively more expensive and less accessible countries such as the US or UK in search of better healthcare facilities. They usually include the elite populations such as businessmen, politicians, or actors who can afford to do so.

Insurance firms interested in medical tourism have been seeking methods to cut expenses. Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc., based in North Carolina, is another firm that has recognised the medical tourism trend. This corporation offered to send one of its employees to India for medical treatment, saving $80,000, and promised to return a portion of the savings to the employee.^17-19

Many insurance providers must provide their beneficiaries with a formative medical tourism option. Patients seeking care across states bordering Mexico have been a popular choice, particularly among immigrants. An estimated 500,000 immigrants from Mexico sought medical care in Mexico in 2009 instead of the US; some of these patients chose to forgo their US health insurance to receive less expensive care across the border.²⁰

The ‘style’ of Mexican medical care (such as quick care, individualised attention and a focus on clinical discretion) was chosen by other immigrants over the ‘style’ of American medical care, in addition to economic considerations (For instance, a lot of testing and referrals, impersonal doctor-patient interactions, standard treatment procedures and an excessive dependence on surgery).²¹

CONCLUSION

As the world progresses, medical tourism has grown drastically. It solved many healthcare-related challenges like lack of accessibility, affordability, and resource access. Many people from underdeveloped countries seek medical care and attention from more developed countries with advanced technology and infrastructure. Another common trend is that patients from first-world countries travel to foreign countries due to long waiting periods, expensive medical procedures and consultations, and the non-availability of resources in their home countries. The advancement of transportation, telecommunications, pharmacy, and the information and technology sector have all significantly contributed to the expansion of medical tourism across the globe. As discussed above, medical tourism has both positive and negative aspects. It is a significant boon to the world of medicine as long as medical tourists carefully weigh out the pros and cons and make an informed decision.