Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

6 ● Medical Tourism in Developing Countriesbuying goods from all over the world; they have also been buying services.One of these is medical care at the point of production. In other words,they travel in order to consume the service at the point of sale. In medicaltourism, it is the doctor and the hospital that are being outsourced. As withtangible products, outsourcing occurs because of price and availabilityconsiderations.Third, as a result of the internationalization of health-care providers inthe more developed countries, medical staff at all levels, from the highlyspecialized brain surgeon to the unskilled hospital janitor, come from developingcountries. Whether they trained in the more developed countries andthen opted to stay, or whether they trained at home and then were attractedby lucrative employment opportunities, the fact is that an increasing numberof medical personnel are from developing countries. Indeed, thePhilippines exports 15,000 nurses a year, and it’s estimated that one in tenFilipinos now works abroad. 38 A study by Gupta, Goldar, and Mitra showedthat of the Indian doctors trained abroad, only 48 percent returned, andthe rest remained to work in the country of training. 39 Moreover, one outof five doctors in the world is Indian. Under those conditions, Westernpatients are used to being treated by a doctor from China and by a nursefrom the Philippines. It is just one step further to buy health services in thecountry of the doctor who provides them at home.Fourth, market conditions for health care in the more developed countrieshave resulted in high demand for services. Part of that is due to demographics.It is estimated that the world’s population will grow to 9 billionby 2050, 40 and, as Warner noted, the potential number of those who willtravel abroad for health care is huge. 41 The baby boomers, some 80 millionof them just in the United States, are getting older but wanting to stayyoung. They are an active generation, playing sports well into old age. 42 Inthe early twenty-first century, there is an increasing interest in being healthyand in leading healthy lifestyles. As Henderson said, “This is notableamongst the baby boomer generation who are also exposed to strong pressuresin modern society to conform to idealized images of bodily perfectionand resist the signs of ageing.” 43 As a result, baby boomers account for 60percent of the spa market. 44 And they are not alone. Older people are justas willing to spend money on health and wellness. In OECD countries thereare currently more than 100 million people over 65, and that number isexpected to reach 200 million by 2030. At that time, it is expected that atleast half of all health expenditures will be on their behalf, and some of thesepeople may find it beneficial to receive care in a cheaper destination. 45The above four points indicate why we should not be surprised thatmedical tourism is booming in less developed countries, but they don’t