Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Introduction to Medical Tourism ● 3and Jordan have also broken into this lucrative market, and more countriesjoin the list every year. 6How big is the medical tourism phenomenon in developing countries?Two numbers are relevant: the number of foreign patients there are and theamount of revenue they generate. In 2004, some 130,000 foreign patientsreceived medical treatment in Malaysia, 7 and a survey of Malaysian hospitalsfound that there has been a 25 percent rise in foreign patients. 8Thailand receives 400,000 foreign medical tourists every year, 9 of which50,000 are Americans going to a single hospital, the Bumrungrad. 10 Cubain 1995–96 treated some 25,000 foreigners. 11 In 2004, 150,000 foreignpatients traveled to India for treatment, 12 while the year before, some50,000 British medical tourists traveled to Thailand, South Africa, India,and Cuba. 13 The number of foreign patients in India is growing by30 percent every year. 14 Jordan expects to receive 100,000 visitors annually.Argentina hopes to increase its inflow of medical tourism annually by50 percent. 15 While some 250,000 health tourists come for medical treatmentto the United States every year, Costa Rica, tiny by comparison, isable to attract as many as 150,000. 16These foreign patients generate revenue for the countries that host them.For example, private medical care (including for foreign consumption) isconsidered one of Mexico’s most profitable economic activities. 17 Healthtourism in Cuba generates some $40 million per year. 18 Foreign patientsgenerated some $27.6 million in revenues in Malaysia in 2004. 19 Each yearpeople from Latin America spend up to $6 billion on medical care outsidetheir countries. 20 Moreover, the potential for medical tourism to continuegenerating income is perceived to be great. It is estimated that India couldearn as much as $2.2 billion per year from medical tourism by 2012.Perhaps the most telling estimate of the role of medical tourism in Indiacame from Narsinha Reddy, manager of marketing for Bombay Hospital, 21who said that medical tourism would do for India’s economic growth inthe 2000s ten to twenty times what information technology did for it inthe 1990s. In addition, a study by Mattoo and Rathindran found that arepresentative health destination could earn $400 million annually even iftrade was limited to only 15 procedures. 22What explains this global increase in medical tourism? While demandand supply are discussed in chapters 3 and 4, suffice it to say here that theprincipal reasons for the increase in demand are demographic (people areliving longer), medical (there are increases in noncommunicable illnessesthat require the help of a specialist or are elective), economic (people havemore disposable income and sometimes even portable health insurance),and social (people know more about the world and are willing to travel).