Disadvantages Of Medical Tourism

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Globalization of Healthcare
As developed countries struggle to provide efficient and affordable healthcare for their citizens, medical tourism has increasingly become common practice among tourists that cross international borders to developing countries seeking medical treatment. The following review will examine three current articles from various trade journals by scholars in economics, tourism and business with supporting and opposing arguments for medical tourism. The objective of this literature review is to identify the ramifications of medical tourism on the host developing economy, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages, as well as determine whether the globalization of healthcare is merely a business or does in fulfill a common …show more content…

Especially when a required treatment is not available, or is only partially covered by health insurance, it is simply favorable for a patient to be treated abroad. Also, the leisure activities often associated with visiting a foreign country can be had, before and after receiving treatment. Conversely, the appeal with medical tourism has its health disadvantages. Post-operative complications and the possibility of contracting foreign hospital-borne diseases can certainly compound to the initial cost of treatment. Also, follow-ups can sometimes only be performed by the medical team abroad, which can easily lead to further travel expenses. Thus, Freire is keen to state, “The first thing, which it is advisable to remind, is that the zero risk does not exist in General Medicine and even less in surgery, independently of the country where the intervention is realized” …show more content…

Therefore, medical insurance companies have now started covering medical travel as part of healthcare packages. Medical tourism lends to opportunities of economic development, thus, various governments have been actively involved with the promotion of medical tourism as international fairs or press campaigns. As an example, “Other countries offer economic stimulants: India has untaxed contracts for hospital investments and special visas for medical tourism for their foreigners” (Patrichi and Dodu, 2014). Therefore, medical tourism has transformed into a business as result of becoming a global

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