Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Offshore Doctors ● 47The second category of incidental medical tourists consists of ordinarytourists who travel for a short period of time to enjoy beaches, jungles, andhistorical sites. Globally, such tourists made 700 million international tripsin 2000, up from 25 million in 1950. 20 It is no surprise that some of themgot sick while on their trip. They did not plan to buy health-care services,but they were forced to do so. These are usually emergency care services,since routine care or minor health concerns will be shelved until a traveler’sreturn home. The chances of healthy people becoming ill while traveling ishigher than if they stayed at home, given freely floating respiratory illnessesin airplane cabins as well as exposure to digestive and other illnesses thatmay not exist in one’s home environment. Moreover, some types of touristactivities are more likely to result in accidents that require care (for example,mountain climbing, skiing, scuba diving, or hurricane chasing 21 ).Given that international travel is expected to rise in the future (theUNWTO predicts 935 million people will travel in 2010, nearly doublethe 500 million people who traveled abroad in 1993 22 ), incidental medicaltourism is also expected to rise.In addition to short stay tourists who fall ill, business travelers alsounexpectedly partake of medical services. Their chances of getting sick arehigher than those of tourists since, in addition to the usual illnesses associatedwith travel, they are also likely to feel stress while traveling, forget totake their medicine, eat food that does not agree with them (and in largequantities), and skip their regular exercise. Both individual businessmen andtheir employers have recognized this reality and are responding. Withrespect to the former, there is a growing trend for business travelers, especiallythose from the West, to partake in wellness and exercise services intheir hotel. In a study of trends in business travel, Johansen notes thathotels have revitalized their spas to offer guests health and wellness servicesin response to demand. Many business travelers are too busy to have basichealth tests performed at home so some hotels have come to the rescue. 23When meetings are completed, business tourists can have cholesterol screenings,stress tests, risk assessments, and exercise consultations. Lifestyle specialistsare on call for them. Employers are also responding to incidentalsicknesses of their workers by offering broader and deeper health insuranceplans. Out of necessity, these plans must offer maximum flexibility withrespect to location of treatment. 24 Also, employers are signing up withemergency companies that fly people out of the zone where they cannot gethealth care. International SOS is one such American firm that had 11,000rescue missions in 2004. 25At the time of writing, a new form of medical care for incidental illnesseswhile traveling has become available: health care on airplanes. Emirates