Treatments Medical Healthcare
The Growth of Medical Tourism: An Interdisciplinary Examination
Introduction
In recent years, medical tourism, the practice of traveling to another country to consume healthcare services in conjunction with vacation services, has become an increasingly popular niche business throughout the world (Connell, 2006). Many individuals are seeking more affordable and otherwise inaccessible healthcare services. Conveniently, these services are being made available in foreign countries where tourism is commonly marketed. The development and popularity of medical tourism is primarily a result of rising healthcare costs and lengthy waiting lists for medical treatments. In addition, improvements in healthcare systems due to technological advances, favorable economic exchange rates, and the intentional promotion of medical care paired with tourism have fueled the progress of the business. While the medical tourism industry effectively provides tremendous benefits, it also generates serious concern over the societal costs and the personal risks involved.
Numerous countries, including India, Singapore, Thailand, and South Africa, have recognized the economic benefits of participating in the medical tourism industry (Connell, 2006). In fact, many more nations, such as Dubai, are looking to develop medical tourism. The practice of seeking medical care outside of one's homeland has become increasingly socially acceptable amongst individuals who have limited access to healthcare due to inadequate insurance coverage or who are facing extremely long wait times for medical treatments. At times, the practice is even encouraged.
Medical tourism offers several benefits. Increased access to health care delivery systems can increase quality and longevity of life for individuals afflicted with disease. Medical tourism has created a window of access for medical services otherwise unavailable. For example, in the United States, a patient suffering from renal failure may be required to wait for a transplantable kidney while patiently enduring dialysis. Alternatively, a dialysis patient may opt to travel to a country, such as India, where transplantation can be executed almost immediately.
In addition to affordable and accessible healthcare, medical tourism is influencing a shift towards privatized medicine. As maintained by Connell (2006), privatization will encourage improvements in quality of healthcare due to the competition that results when patients are awarded autonomy of choice. Also, in wealthy nations, such as the United States, where the costs of healthcare are skyrocketing, bankruptcy is a common result of the inability to pay for excessive medical care costs. On average, meeting costs for both surgical and medically necessary procedures is unattainable relative to income. Consequently, individuals are forced to choose between life saving medical treatments or financial ruin. Medical tourism is a viable option to the latter.
In contrast, several risks are associated with medical tourism. Healthcare and quality standards do not transfer from nation to nation and no international oversight exists. Also, the negative effects of the industry on the local populations must be addressed. Under privileged populations are at risk of being exploited by the industry.
Medical tourism involves many facets and is undoubtedly deserving of an interdisciplinary examination; therefore, it must be broadly researched and analyzed using multiple disciplinary perspectives (Repko, 2005). Several disciplines have taken notice of the expansiveness and prevalence of the issue and it is impossible for a single disciplinary perspective to fully clarify and resolve the matter in a holistic manner.
Several disciplines must be considered when examining the medical tourism industry, including business administration, healthcare, biology, economics, sociology, ethics, psychology, and political science. Respectively, only a few of these disciplines can be deemed most relevant to the issue. In the end, narrowing down the numerous disciplines involved in the issue to only those that are most significant will aid in effectively defining a synthesized solution. In this case, the most relevant disciplines include the applied science of medicine, business administration, and sociology.
A detailed study of literature from various peer-reviewed journals, publications, and books will be conducted in order to develop competence and an understanding of each of the most relevant disciplines' perspectives with regard to medical tourism. Then, each disciplinary perspective will be compared and contrasted to establish similarities and differences between them. Exploring the perspective behind the applied science of medicine will assist in the conceptualization of the necessity of medical services, the physical events that the body undergoes while experiencing illness and disease, and the actions taken by medical personnel aimed at the healing and prevention of disease and illness. Overall, medicine strives to understand how the body is constructed, how it works, and attempts to understand and treat ill health (Dixon, 1986). As with other natural sciences, the methods used by medical science to form a body of knowledge include classification of natural phenomena, such as health and disease, and empirical experimentation using the Scientific Method (Repko, 2005).
Examining the perspective of business administration will aid in understanding the manner in which the medical tourism industry is organized and controlled as well as the human interactions and practices that are required to sustain the system. According to Cornell (1949), business administration can be considered the task of directing and controlling an organization and to intertwine its various parts so that all factors will perform properly for a common purpose. The methods exercised by the business administration discipline are drawn from various social sciences such as economics and political science.
Lastly, studying the perspective of sociology will help to illuminate the factions of people who utilize the services provided by medical tourism and the social forces led them to do so. Furthermore, sociological insights will further an understanding of the social impacts the industry has on a global scale in addition to the effects on local populations. According to the introductory writings of Eshleman and Cashion (1983), sociology acquaints students with a variety of conjectural explanations of how people think and act, how societies' organize change, and how society operates. The methods employed by sociology to gain knowledge include observation and empirical evidence, which, includes methodically collecting and analyzing data.
This purpose of the paper is to discuss the influential factors fueling the growth of medical tourism, the benefits of partaking in the services offered by medical tourism, and the controversial and negative impacts arising from the new industry. By utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to explore and analyze medical tourism, a superior and full understanding will develop. Thus, the result will be possible enhancements and the implementation of a social oversight to the growing industry.
Background
Healthcare coupled with tourism is not a new-found affair. For centuries, travelers have sought out tourist destinations centered on relaxation and rejuvenation as an escape from the strenuous demands of work and daily life. As maintained by Connell (2006), many of the early varieties of tourism were directly intended for increased health and well being, involving physical activities such as hiking and golf, rejuvenating spa treatments, sea bathing, as well as yoga and meditation, all of which are thought to be obvious health restorative assets of tourism. Within the last decade, the health tourism industry has produced a hot niche market which focuses on specific medical interventions rather than general improvements in overall well being and health. People are traveling great distances to foreign countries in order to attain medical, dental, and surgical care while at the same time taking pleasure in the amenities and leisurely activities the destinations have to offer.
In recent years, the medical tourism industry has grown dramatically for a number of reasons. A major contributing factor is the escalating costs of healthcare in affluent nations, such as, the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK) (Demicco & Cetron, 2006). According to McLean (2007), Americans don't get cost-effective quality health care. The U.S. unarguably has the most expensive health care system in the world when compared per capita while the cost of healthcare in many developing countries is considerably less.
Long waiting lists for medical treatments are another underlying cause for the escalated development of medical tourism industry. For example, in the UK, patients cannot tolerate the lengthy wait for treatments offered by the National Health Service and yet they cannot always afford to see a private physician either (Bies & Zacharia, 2007). Often, in this sort of situation, the required medical treatment is not institutionally viewed as priority by healthcare system authorities. The consequent delay in medical treatment often results in a patient enduring debilitating pain and a reduction in the quality of life that once existed.
Additionally, in many countries, the quantity of citizens awaiting organ transplantation, the most common being kidney, is dramatically increasing due to severe shortages. Rai and Afzal (2007) purport that the number of people anticipating kidney transplantation in the U.S. has sharply elevated from 30,000 in 1988 to over 116,000 in 2001 due to a trivial level of cadaver donations coupled with an increase in demand. Shortages are frequently being addressed by the controversial use of live donors, which are regularly found in many of the countries known for their promotion of medical tourism.
Furthermore, innovative technological advancements, the appearance of new businesses rendered for the promotion of medical tourism, and the Internet are all playing a major role in the development of medical tourism. For example, in India, technology has become comparable to that available in the West and has become one of the world's leading centers for biotechnology (Demicco & Cetron, 2006). Also, most Indian doctors are trained to the standards of western medicine, possessing notable high rates of success united with low treatment costs. All of these flattering features, in addition to other tourism related attributes, are heavily emphasized in commercial literature and Internet advertisements created by marketing firms in order to attract new vacationing patients. In fact, the Internet has created a window for easy access to a wealth of information related to medical tourism.
The nations most prevalently appealing to medical tourism seekers include India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, many Latin American countries, and most recently, parts of the Middle East (Demicco & Cetron, 2006). Currently, the major region for medical tourism in the world is Asia. As a matter of fact, India is considered the “contemporary global center” for medical tourism, holding an annual Medical Tourism Expo (Connell, 2006, p. 1095). Additionally, future growth of medical tourism is expected in underdeveloped areas, such as The Philippines, as a result of investments in medical facilities and the attraction of medical tourists (Demicco & Cetron, 2006).
Generally, medical tourists are most likely to hail from rich world nations where the costs of health care are the highest, most being from North America, Western Europe, and the Middle East. Astonishingly, in the UK, medical tourism has become incredibly important, reaching a level where medical services from the British National Health Service are being subcontracted to India (Bies & Zacharia, 2007).
As previously noted, the advancement of medical tourism is a real-world issue worthy of an interdisciplinary method of investigation. Repko (2005) discusses the necessity of the Comprehensive Perspectives Model, which stresses practicality in addition to recognition and synthesis of multiple perspectives, when exploring any issue that warrants the use of an interdisciplinary method of analysis. Clearly, exploration of the situation from multiple view points is an educational process promoting a well rounded understanding. Ultimately, a comprehensive knowledge of medical tourism will pave the path to a synthesized solution.
A logical order for the discussion of the independent disciplinary insights into medical tourism exists. Firstly, medical tourism is servicing individuals in need of health care; therefore, the perspectives set forth by medical professionals will initially be examined. Secondly, an entirely new niche trade has been developed and cleverly positioned in order to meet the needs of the numerous individuals seeking more accessible and inexpensive health care; for that reason, the viewpoints expressed by the experts of business administration will be studied next. Lastly, sociologists have identified the specific segments of society taking part in medical tourism as well as the lasting impacts the industry has on these populations; hence, sociological insights will be addressed next.
References
Medicine
Dixon, B. (1986). Health, medicine and the human body. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Business Administration
Cornell, W.B. (1949). Organization and management in industry and business. New York: Ronald Press.
Sociology
Eshleman, J. R. & Cashion, B. G. (1983). Sociology: An introduction. Boston & Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.
Additional Sources
Bies, W. & Zacharia, L. (2007). Medical tourism: Outsourcing surgery. Mathematical and Computer Modeling, 46, 1144-1159. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from Science Direct database.
Connell, J. (2006). Medical tourism: Sea, sun, sand, and … surgery. Tourism Management, 27, 1093-1100. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from Science Direct database.
Demicco, F.J. & Cetron, M. (2006). Club medic. Asia Pacific Biotech News 10(10), 527-531. Retrieved February 22, 2008, from EBSCO Host database.
McLean, T. R. (2007). Commentary: The industrialization of medical tourism and the Blue Ridge paper claim. Journal of Controversial Medical Claims, 14(1), 18-19. Retrieved February 22, 2008, from EBSCO Host database.
Rai, M. A. & Afzal, O. (2007). Organs in the bazaar: The end of the beginning?. Politics and the Life Sciences, 26(1), 10-11. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from EBSCO Host database.
Repko, A. (2005). Interdisciplinary practice: A student guide to research and writing. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.
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