Medical Tourism in Developing Countries
Share Embed Flag
Download ePaper

Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Medical Tourism in Developing Countries Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

staff.guilan.ac.ir
from staff.guilan.ac.ir More from this publisher
11.07.2015 Views

Promoting Medical Tourism ● 135Table 5.10 Tourism statisticsT&T as a% of GDPGovernmentexpenditure onT&T (% of total)Capitalinvestment(% of total)T&Temployment(% of total)Argentina 6.8 2.4 9.8 2.9Chile 5.7 4.1 8.7 2.3Costa Rica 12.5 6.0 17.4 4.8Cuba 13.7 5.7 14.9 3.9India 4.9 1.0 7.2 2.6Jordan 17.6 10.3 16.9 6.5Malaysia 14.7 1.7 15.9 4.9Philippines 7.4 3.5 10.7 3.0S. Africa 7.4 0.6 13.3 3.0Thailand 12.2 2.7 11.0 4.3Source : World Tourism Organization, Compendium of Tourism Statistics (Madrid: UNWTO, 2003), variouscountry tables; and World Travel and Tourism Council, Country League Tables (Madrid: The 2004 Traveland Tourism Economic Research, 2004), tables 2, 12, 18, 24, 46, and 52.attractions include shopping, an activity that enables the internationalpatient to return home with handicrafts, silks, beads, and semipreciousstones in addition to new teeth, bigger breasts, and a new hip.Those countries that have tourist attractions, a well-developed touristindustry, that are easily accessible and that have the reputation of beingtourist friendly have an advantage over those that do not. Some indicatorsof a well-developed tourist sector are presented in table 5.10. While nocomparable breakdown exists to indicate how important one type of tourismis over another, there is aggregate information indicating the role oftourism in general. It is clear that Jordan, Costa Rica, and Cuba are mostdependent on tourism as a source of income and employment and, in turn,feed it the most public expenditure and capital investment.The Capacity and Incentives for theDevelopment of Medical TourismTechnological change and the spread of innovation is crucial in the medicaltourism industry because service providers, especially those offering invasiveand diagnostic services, must be at the cutting edge of technology or elsethey will not be competitive. Numerous theories have claimed that onlytechnological change is capable of avoiding diminishing returns in the longrun and thus sustaining overall economic growth. 146 In other words, in theabsence of innovation, the capacity to produce goods and services will fail

136 ● Medical Tourism in Developing Countriesto grow over time. Yet, it is too simplistic to focus only on technologicalchange, since numerous other factors are also relevant. Indeed, Robert Barroclaimed that while technological change theories are important for understandinggrowth as a global phenomenon, as well as growth in countries‘at the technological frontier,’ they are less applicable in most regions of theworld. There, a return to more classical approaches is preferable, ones thatincorporate “government policies (including institutional choices that maintainproperty rights and free markets), accumulation of human capital, fertilitydecisions, and the diffusion of technology.” 147 The countries studiedhave excelled with respect to the capacity to generate technological change,the capital with which to apply it, the appropriately skilled labor force tosupport innovation, the access to markets in which to buy and sell products,and the environment (political, institutional, etc.) to enable all this to occur.In other words, they have satisfied both the requirements for growth setforth by the economists who focus on technology as well as those who focuson nontechnological factors.Thus, countries under study are well suited to spearhead the developmentof medical tourism because they have the advantages listed above(such as low costs of production, domestic human capital, developed infrastructureand institutions, liberalized economies, and so forth). Not everycountry has every advantage. Indeed, while Chile has a dynamic businessenvironment, its political parties are perceived to be corrupt; India has ademocratic political system, but a mediocre ranking with respect to enforcementof legal contracts. As noted at the beginning of this chapter, somecritical mass of advantages is necessary, and the composition of that massdiffers from country to country. Together, these advantages provide eachcountry with the capacity to engage in medical service trade and to use itas a growth-promoting development strategy. When this capacity is coupledwith incentives to promote medical tourism, then countries are poised totake off.What are these incentives? The greatest incentive comes from thedemand for medical services (discussed in chapter 3). A large foreigndemand for health care stimulates supply.In addition, there are secondary incentives to supply medical servicesborn from endogenous factors that are particular to each country. Oneexample from Thailand is the overcapacity in the medical sector that couldonly be filled with foreign tourists. After the 1997 economic crisis, the Thaigovernment’s health plan was reformed in a way that decreased domestic useof private sector health care. As a result, private hospitals with high technologyequipment and high quality health personnel lay fallow and of necessityturned to international patients. 148 Another example of an endogenous factor

Promot<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Tourism</strong> ● 135Table 5.10 <strong>Tourism</strong> statisticsT&T as a% of GDPGovernmentexpenditure onT&T (% of total)Capital<strong>in</strong>vestment(% of total)T&Temployment(% of total)Argent<strong>in</strong>a 6.8 2.4 9.8 2.9Chile 5.7 4.1 8.7 2.3Costa Rica 12.5 6.0 17.4 4.8Cuba 13.7 5.7 14.9 3.9India 4.9 1.0 7.2 2.6Jordan 17.6 10.3 16.9 6.5Malaysia 14.7 1.7 15.9 4.9Philipp<strong>in</strong>es 7.4 3.5 10.7 3.0S. Africa 7.4 0.6 13.3 3.0Thailand 12.2 2.7 11.0 4.3Source : World <strong>Tourism</strong> Organization, Compendium of <strong>Tourism</strong> Statistics (Madrid: UNWTO, 2003), variouscountry tables; and World Travel and <strong>Tourism</strong> Council, Country League Tables (Madrid: The 2004 Traveland <strong>Tourism</strong> Economic Research, 2004), tables 2, 12, 18, 24, 46, and 52.attractions <strong>in</strong>clude shopp<strong>in</strong>g, an activity that enables the <strong>in</strong>ternationalpatient to return home with handicrafts, silks, beads, and semipreciousstones <strong>in</strong> addition to new teeth, bigger breasts, and a new hip.Those countries that have tourist attractions, a well-developed tourist<strong>in</strong>dustry, that are easily accessible and that have the reputation of be<strong>in</strong>gtourist friendly have an advantage over those that do not. Some <strong>in</strong>dicatorsof a well-developed tourist sector are presented <strong>in</strong> table 5.10. While nocomparable breakdown exists to <strong>in</strong>dicate how important one type of tourismis over another, there is aggregate <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g the role oftourism <strong>in</strong> general. It is clear that Jordan, Costa Rica, and Cuba are mostdependent on tourism as a source of <strong>in</strong>come and employment and, <strong>in</strong> turn,feed it the most public expenditure and capital <strong>in</strong>vestment.The Capacity and Incentives for theDevelopment of <strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Tourism</strong>Technological change and the spread of <strong>in</strong>novation is crucial <strong>in</strong> the medicaltourism <strong>in</strong>dustry because service providers, especially those offer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>vasiveand diagnostic services, must be at the cutt<strong>in</strong>g edge of technology or elsethey will not be competitive. Numerous theories have claimed that onlytechnological change is capable of avoid<strong>in</strong>g dim<strong>in</strong>ish<strong>in</strong>g returns <strong>in</strong> the longrun and thus susta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g overall economic growth. 146 In other words, <strong>in</strong> theabsence of <strong>in</strong>novation, the capacity to produce goods and services will fail

logo

products

Resources

Company

Terms of service
Privacy policy
Cookie policy
Cookie settings
Imprint
Change language
Made with love in Switzerland
© 2024 Yumpu.com all rights reserved

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!