3. Environmental
• makes use of
natural
resources
IMPACT OF MEDICAL
TOURISM
Economic
• travel
and
tourism
Social
• allowing
millions
access to
enhanced
health
services at
affordable
prices
4. Challenges in Sustainable Medical Tourism
Logistic
Some patients get lost at
the airport due to a lack of
customer service and
appropriate boarder
facilities.
Collaboration
Poor communication and
cooperation among
stakeholders who
participate within the
medical tourism network
for tracking the right
information.o Social behavior
It is difficult to attract
community to attend
educational session to
work in medical sector.
o Medical capacity
As private medical
facilities target wealthy
patients, they have little
capacity for local patients.
5. Suggestion To Overcome Challenges
Medical facilities should
cooperate with local airline
companies to facilitate
patients’ trips and prevent
delays.
Adopting a collaborative
strategy will allow
stakeholders to establish
strong management, share
valuable information
concerning the medical
tourism market and credible
statistics on the impact of
medical tourism on the local
economy.
Private medical facilities
should strive to receive
accreditation first in order to
improve the quality of care for
hosting foreign patients, and
then they will have a
reputation of commitment to
offer high quality of medical
services and continue for
improvements.
Inform the public about
the importance of
working in the medical
sector.
6. Potential Un-ethical Problems
Patients usually have no
idea about the potential
for infectious
complications from
medical tourism, and
there is little reliable data
available regarding
destination countries.
Patients may be offered
procedures and
techniques in foreign
countries that are illegal
in the patients’ home
countries (e.g., abortion
and euthanasia) or
illegal both in their home
countries and the
destination countries as
well (e.g., organ
trafficking).
Patients engaged in medical
tourism
Potential impact on tourists’
home countries and their
health systems
7. Importance of Public
Awareness
To have a further understanding of the development of
medical tourism from three various perspectives,
which are the drivers that force patients to look at
medical tourism as a solution to resolve their financial
status, health condition, or a medical vacation for
visiting relatives and tourist attractions.
To improve the medical services and technology for
attracting patients from foreign markets.
To overcome certain challenges facing the
development of the medical tourism sector, such as,
malpractice, quality of care, post-operative service,
and competitiveness.
8. CONCLUSION• The essential requirements for selecting a medical
tourism destination, are political stability, economical
stability, social stability, and technological infrastructure
and capability.
• Medical tourism doesn’t only provide benefits to
international patients; it extends a wide spectrum of
benefits to many industries such as the healthcare
industry, travel & tourism, commercial sector,
government relationships, international accreditation
sector, amongst others.
• Both positive and negative impacts of medical tourism
on healthcare, economic, social and environmental
sectors creates opportunities and challenges for this
growing industry which require cohesive collaborative
work between various stakeholders.
