Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Would You Like a Safari With Your Lasik Surgery? ● 67alone cannot be relied upon to deliver sustainable development.” 6 Similarly,Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s Minister of Finance, argued that African statesneed to expand, not to contract, their public sectors. 7 The arguments are infavor of bringing the state back in to the development effort.In what way can government jump-start the economy and sustainnational growth that the private sector cannot do better? It can take legislativemeasures; it can provide an institutional framework. It can have acommercial and industrial policy, together with fiscal and monetary policy,to ensure sustainable growth. Government can make direct expendituresand investments (especially in strategic sectors or public goods, or whenlocal private capital lacks sufficient strength to sponsor the required investment,and foreign capital has associated problems). Government canencourage the private sector directly, with liberalizing laws and subsidies. Itcan also encourage it indirectly by investing in infrastructure.The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report containsindicators of public sector involvement. This report ranks countries withrespect to numerous economic indicators that are not found in official statistics,but rather are based on opinion surveys of top business executivesacross a broad range of industries. The World Economic Forum, in conjunctionwith Harvard University, recognizes that “there exist intangiblefactors that cannot be found in official statistics but that may play animportant role for a country’s competitiveness and hence its long termprospects for economic growth.” 8 It is these intangible factors, as describedby opinion surveys, that are used throughout this book to supplement officialstatistics when they are available and substitute for them when they arenot. Only 59 countries are included in the survey (the high- and middleincomecountries). Table 4.1 contains values from 1 to 7 (where 7 is thehighest) for the composition of public spending (in response to the followingstatement: the composition of public spending provides necessary goodsand services that the market does not provide). Given Singapore’s highestranking (5.8) and Zimbabwe’s lowest (1.4), it is clear that destination countriesunder study fare high by global comparisons. Malaysia ranks highest(4.4), together with Thailand (4.1), and with Jordan (4.0), ranks above theUnited States (3.9).Role of the State in the Health and Tourism SectorsIt has been argued that the great strides made in public health in Chinaare all due to the role of government in health care. At the time of MaoTse-tung, it was the authorities that provided basic health care; in themid-2000s, it is Liberalization that gave rise to increase in private hospitals