1. Wellness Tourism:
The effects of the Globalization of the
Healthcare Industry
William Lane
Gokul Mundhra
F. J. DeMicco
University of Delaware
2. Why the need?
• Going abroad for surgery is not just
the only reason to go abroad. Many
now combine it with a trip to the Taj
Mahal, a photo safari on the African
wild, or a stay at a hospital that feels
like a luxury hotel, and all at bargain
basement prices. This is medical
tourism, and its one the hottest
niche markets in the hospitality
industry.
3. DEFINE
• Medical tourism or medical travel is the act
of traveling to other countries to obtain
medical, dental, and surgical care.
• Leisure aspect of traveling may be included
on such a medical travel trip.
• It includes medical services (inclusive of
elective procedure and complex specialized
surgeries) like knee/hip replacement, heart
surgery, dental procedures and different
cosmetic surgeries.
4. Medical Tourists
• In some regions, state-of-the-
art treatments and facilities are
hard to come by, if they exist at
all. For that reason, patients
throughout the Middle East are
traveling to places such as
Jordan or Asia for complicated
surgeries.
5. COUNTRIES THAT PROMOTE
Singapore Argentina
India Bolivia
Thailand Brazil
Brunei Costa Rica
Cuba Mexico
Hong Kong Turkey
Hungary Belgium
Israel Poland
Jordan South Africa.
Lithuania
Malaysia
Latvia
Philippines
UAE
6.
7. Health Care
• In countries with public health care
systems, the system can get so
overburdened it can take years to
get proper needed care. Hence
many people in Britain and Canada
are seeking help from other
countries such as India and Thailand
for their healthcare, where you can
be in the operating room in Bangkok
or Bangalore the morning after you
step off the plane.
8.
9. Prices contd.
• Heart-Valve replacement in the US
$200,000 or more, in India, $10,000
including round trip airfare and a brief
vacation.
• Metal free dental bridge in the US $5,500,
in India, $500.
• Thailand, knee replacement surgery with
six days of physical therapy, $5,000, one-
fifth the price it would cost in the US.
• Lasik eye surgery in the US, $3,700, in
Thailand, $730.
• Full facelift in the US, close to $20,000 or
more, in South Africa, about $1,250.
10. HOW TO PROMOTE
favorable government regulations and support
set up a committee or task force comprising
heads of industry, eminent medical practitioners,
and maybe insurance companies that is involved
in setting guideline and policy for the industry
revising tax laws to make it more conducive to
invest in the industry
make available imports with reduced duties on
medical equipment, and essential drugs
focus on alternate healing methods which
originate from the country like acupuncture and
acupressure from china, yoga and ayurveda from
India.
Areas that are tourist attractions should be
developed to facilitate investments in health care
11. Low Price
• For many though, it is simply
the low price that is the real
attraction. The cost of surgery
in India, Thailand, or South
Africa can be one-tenth the
price of a counterpart in the US
or Western Europe.
12. Non-US does not mean bad
• The hospitals and clinics that cater to the
tourist are often the best in the world.
• Many are staffed by doctors trained at the
major medical centers in American and
Europe.
Patient’s room • Bangkok’s Bumrundgrad hospital has over
200 surgeons who are board-certified in the
US.
• One of Singapore’s major hospitals is a
branch of the prestigious John Hopkins
University.
• Escorts Heart Institute and Research
Center, in Delhi and Faridabad, carries out
nearly 15,000 heart operations each year
with a death rate of only 0.8 percent, less
than half of most major hospitals in the US.
Bangkok’s
Bumrungrad
Hospital
13. Not just the Doctors…
• Many overseas Hospitals have doctors who are supported by
more registered nurses than any facility in the Western
countries could offer.
• Some provide single-patient rooms that look more like four
star hotels, with a nurse dedicated to that patient 24 hours a
day!
• Along with the chance of a quick vacation before or after the
surgery, many patients are even assigned a personal assistant.
• Employer option – Hannaford Bros. Co. offers a foreign
hospital in its network of service providers
14. Rapid Growth
• Ten years ago, the overseas market was hardly
noticeable, now, over 250,000 patients visit
Singapore alone, nearly half coming from the
Middle East.
• In 2002 150,000 traveled to India for care and
surgery, today, nearly 500,000.
• The McKinsey consulting firm estimates that
medical tourism will bring India as much as $2.2
Billion USD per year by 2012.
• Along with the major players, Argentina, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Jamaica, South Africa, Jordan, Malaysia,
Hungary, Latvia, and Estonia all have broken into
this lucrative market.
15. Contributing Trends
• By 2015 the health of the vast Baby Boom generation will
have begun its slow, final decline.
• Over 70 million boomers in the US, and over 150 million
when Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are
taken into account.
• These boomers represent an overwhelming market for
inexpensive, high quality medical care.
• Medical tourism will be particularly attractive in the US,
where an estimated 43 million people are without health
insurance and perhaps 120 million lack dental coverage.
• This number is likely to grow quickly as many companies
cut back or eliminate their health plans.
• Joint commission International accrediting agency is an
affiliate of the Joint commission which accredits hospitals
in the U.S.
16. ISSUES IN THE INDUSTRY
• healthcare unaffordable to the local
population.
• issues regarding infringements on rights to
intellectual property because different
countries have different laws concerning
the same
• question of ethics when it comes to the
donors of organs
• Research methods in some developing
countries are not regulated by law (human
trials, animal testing, DNA research, and
artificial reproduction of human tissue)
17. Largest Players
• Thailand started its medical tourism
in 1997, during the economic crash
that hammered much of Asia sent
canny healthcare providers looking
for new markets. Today it is the
largest and best-established
destination for foreign patients,
particularly from Japan and the US.
Some 1.2 million Japanese visited
Thailand in 2004.
18. Largest Players Ctd.
• Bangkok and Phuket – No fewer
than six medical facilities in
Bangkok have hospital accreditation
from the US. Bumrungrad Hospital
alone sees 850,000 patients per year,
40 percent of them from abroad.
• They attract people for cosmetic
surgery, dental treatments, eye
surgery, dialysis, and organ
transplants.
19. Vacation + Surgery = Good thing!
• For vacation possibilities, Phuket is clearly
the choice though. With some of the most
spectacular shorefront scenery on the
planet. The mess left by last December’s
tsunami has already been cleared away and
the beaches are cleaner than at any time in a
decade.
• The other draw to Phuket? Bangkok
Phuket Hospital is probably the best place
in the world to go for sex-change surgery.
In fact, it is one one of the top ten
procedures that patients visit Thailand for.
20. India
• India is a relative newcomer to the medical
tourism arena, but is quickly catching up.
Just two years ago, McKinsey predicted that
the number of foreign patients seeking care
in India would grow by 15 percent. Most
estimates put the growth at 30 percent
already.
• It helps a lot that English is one of the many
native languages in India, and the one
spoken by all educated Indians. Also cost
of care and low cost for follow-up trips are
a boost.
21. India Ctd.
• India also has top notch centers for open
heart surgery, pediatric heart surgery, hip
and knee replacement, cosmetic surgery,
dentistry, bone marrow transplants, cancer
therapy, and just about any other specialty
that a patient could need.
• Many of these center are among the best in
the world. Virtually all equipped with the
latest state of the art medical and diagnostic
equipment, and India has the technological
sophistication to maintain it.
22. India Ctd.
• Also, Indian pharmaceuticals meet the
stringent requirements of the US FDA,
while its quality of care is also up to
American standards.
• India also offers many services not
available in the US, such as ‚hip
resurfacing‛. Instead of a total hip
replacement, in which damaged bone is
scraped away and replaced by a chrome
alloy. The operation is well tested and
highly successful, but has not yet been
approved for use in the US.
23. India Ctd.
• Not only surgery attracts patients,
but the chances for a vacation. From
a tour of the Taj Mahal to a half-day
safari in the White Tiger-
Bandhavgarh Nation Park,
shopping for handicrafts in the
tribal villiages of Orissa and
Madhya Pradesh, or even skin-
diving in the Indian ocean.
24. Costa Rica
• Not only offering surgeries at one-third the
cost of similar treatments in the US, Costa
Rica is also in the ‘backyard’ for many
Americans. Cosmetic surgery and dental
work are their specialties.
• Add in its ecological wonders such as some
of the largest, best protected Rain Forests in
the Central America, to the fire show of the
Arenal Volcano. For more urban tastes,
there is always the casinos of San Jose,
Puntarenas, and Guanacaste.
25. South Africa
• South Africa is where you want to
go for sun, surf, and surgery, all
within easy reach of lions,
elephants, or the beaches of the
Sunshine Coast. South African
surgeons tend to be academically
sound, but conservative, so this is
probably not the best place to go for
the latest breakthrough in
neurosurgery.
• Most common and well know
procedures are cosmetic in nature.
26. Other Facts
• Argentina is the fifth most popular
destination in the world for plastic
surgery, and the number of medical
visitors is expected to grow by 50
percent in the next two years.
• Cuba is resurrecting its once-
renowned medical facilities in an
effort to attract medical tourist
dollars. Cosmetic and eye surgery,
and a well regarded women’s
hospital are all among the
attractions.
27. Facts Ctd.
• Hungary is drawing visitors from Western
Europe, and growing numbers from the US,
for high quality plastic surgery and dental
care for as little as half the price in nearby
Germany and up to 60 percent cheaper than
the US.
• Iran has been eyeing the success of Jordan
in attracting medical tourists from other
parts of the Middle East and has its sights
set on pulling patients for cardiovascular
and orthopedic surgery, dentistry, organ
transplants, and even psychiatric care.
28. Facts Ctd.
• Dubai is seen as a better deal, already known as a
luxury vacation paradise on the Red Sea. Dubai
Healthcare City, scheduled to open in 2010, will
be the largest medical center between Europe and
Southeast Asia and will have
a branch of the Harvard
Medical School on site.
Dubai Healthcare City
29. Facts Ctd.
• Malaysia offers advanced care at low prices
in a variety of specialties, but has been
handicapped by a lack of doctors and
technicians.
• The Philippines are still underdeveloped
land as far as medical tourism goes, but that
may not remain true for long. Bangkok’s
Bumrungrad Hospital recently mad a major
investment in the Asian Hospital and
Medical Center outside Manila in hope of
cloning its own success and attracting
vacationing patients.
30. Contact Details
• Dr. Frederick J. DeMicco
Professor and ARAMARK Chair,
Hotel & Restaurant Management
Dr. Marvin Cetron
President Forecasting International
Address: The University of Delaware,
14 W. Main Street-Raub Hall,
Newark, Delaware 19716
Tel: +1 302 831 6077
URL: www.hrim.udel.edu
E-Mail: FDeMicco@udel.edu
