Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Promoting Medical Tourism ● 11518th, 21st, and 23rd. For the sake of comparison, Singapore ranks thehighest in the world, with a score of 6.7, the United States at 6.4, and thelowest rank of the 59 countries is Bolivia, with 1.4.WaterInvestments in water systems are made for a variety of reasons includingthe provision of drinking water, moving of waste, irrigation, and the productionof goods and services. Intermittent water supplies, insufficientcoverage, and inadequate purifying methods are all impediments to thedevelopment of a Western-oriented tourist industry and to economic developmentin general. As in the case of power, the large hospitals have investedin their own source of water and purification systems.According to table 5.4, the Philippines, Thailand, and India havethe smallest percent of population with sustainable access to a water source(85, 85, and 86 percent respectively). For the sake of comparison, the averagefor developing countries is 79 percent. 79Waste ManagementBrochures promoting medical tourism in third world countries often showbeautiful poolside sunbathers sipping pina coladas while recovering fromtheir medical procedure. Potential travelers are unlikely to ponder how thesunbathers’ waste is managed. Yet, waste disposal and sewage treatment iscrucial to the functioning of a tourist destination or major medical centerthat attracts people who, by definition, create waste. Insufficient water andenergy supply and lack of sanitation hamper tourism development, as wastecollection is very poor in most LDCs and recycling plants do not exist.Donald Reid said that in developing countries, sophisticated technology isnot available, or where it is, it is too expensive to install and maintain. 80This importance of waste management is not lost on destination countrygovernments (for example, Malaysia’s strategy of tourism development specificallynotes the need to address the “serious problem of . . . dumping ofwaste material” 81 ).Tourists and waste disposal are tied together in a mutually self-reinforcingcycle insofar as the presence of tourists increases the need for a waste disposalsystem while the absence or inadequacy of such a system negatively affectstourists. This last point includes the fact that tourists face a health hazardif waste is improperly managed. In addition, it means that tourists will avoidthose spots where this particular lapse in infrastructure development isevident.