Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Promoting Medical Tourism ● 113and communication, plus water supplies, financial institutions, electricityand public services, such as health and education. 75 Countries that have awell-developed infrastructure are better positioned to provide medical tourismand to facilitate the provision of related services. Authorities in Thailandand Jordan, as well as in other destination countries under study, have beencognizant of this fact and are aware that the enormous potential of medicaltourism can be obliterated by something as basic as water and power.To the extent that a developed infrastructure facilitates and integrates alleconomic activities, medical tourism depends on the quality and quantityof infrastructure insofar as it determines the pace and diversity of thedevelopment of the service industry. Improvements in infrastructure contributeto the tourist industry and, at the same time, they serve the localpopulation and increase its standards of living. When infrastructure is deficientand inadequate, then transportation systems prevent flows of goodsthat serve the medical and tourist industries; financial institutions cannotprovide capital for investment in clinics, hospitals, accommodations, restaurants,car rental agencies, and shops; communications cannot foster the linkto home that patients and tourists often demand; and so forth. Such conditionshamper the development of the medical tourist industry (as well asthe general tourist industry), and ultimately derail aspirations for nationaleconomic growth. Indeed, according to a World Bank study of tourism inAfrica, infrastructure investments have not kept up with expanding tourism,76 and the overuse and congestion that has been created preventedtourism from reaching its potential. Similarly, according to a MorganStanley study in 2005, the single biggest constraint on the Indian economyis the lack of infrastructure. 77 A government policy that promotes medicaltourism will use its scarce resources to ensure that transport, power, andwater are explicitly favored in the regions that attract patients and touristsby exerting its discretion over investment in the sectors discussed below.Such public sector investment will also set the stage for foreign direct investmentin medical tourism that is unlikely to take place where the infrastructureis not developed (Chanda called this “The huge initial publicinvestments that may be required to attract foreign direction investmentinto the health sector” 78 ).Infrastructure development is presented in table 5.4 in two ways. Overallinfrastructure is measured from 1 to 7 with respect to quality, extent, andefficiency (where 7 is the highest). Also, countries are ranked by thedevelopment of their infrastructure. The World Economic Forum hasranked only the top 59 countries, so the mere fact that the countries understudy are included puts them in the global top-third with respect to infrastructure.Malaysia, South Africa, and Jordan rank the highest, respectively