Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Medical tourism today: What is the state of existing knowledge?

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Public Health Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

One manifestation of globalization is medical tourism. As its implications remain largely unknown, we reviewed claimed benefits and risks. Driven by high health-care costs, long waiting periods, or lack of access to new therapies in developed countries, most medical tourists (largely from the United States, Canada, and Western Europe) seek care in Asia and Latin America. Although individual patient risks may be offset by credentialing and sophistication in (some) destination country facilities, lack of benefits to poorer citizens in developing countries offering medical tourism remains a generic equity issue. Data collection, measures, and studies of medical tourism all need to be greatly improved if countries are to assess better both the magnitude and potential health implications of this trade.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Smith, R.D. ( 2004 ) Foreign direct investment and trade in health services: A review of the literature . Social Science & Medicine 59 (11) : 2313 – 2323 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cortez, N. ( 2008 ) Patients without borders: The emerging global market for patients and the evolution of modern health care . Indiana Law Journal 83 : 71 – 132 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, C.M. ( 2008 ) Medical tourism . Medical Clinics of North America 92 (6) : 1433 – 1446 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, L. ( 2007a ) ‘First world health care at third world prices’: Globalization, bioethics and medical tourism . Biosocieties 2 : 303 – 325 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, L. ( 2007b ) Medical tourism: Family medicine and international health-related travel . Canadian Family Physician 53 (10) : 1639 – 1641 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkett, L. ( 2007 ) Medical tourism. Concerns, benefits, and the American legal perspective . Journal of Legal Medicine 28 (2) : 223 – 245 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deloitte Center for Health Solutions . ( 2008 ) Medical tourism: Consumers in search of value, http://www2.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_chs_MedicalTourismStudy(1).pdf, accessed 9 December 2009 .

  • Forgione, D.A. and Smith, P.C. ( 2007 ) Medical tourism and its impact on the US health care system . Journal of Health Care Finance 34 (1) : 27 – 35 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz, M.D., Rosensweig, J.A. and Jones, C.A. ( 2007 ) Medical Tourism: Globalization of the healthcare marketplace . Medscape General Medicine (The Medscape Journal of Medicine) 9 (4) : 24 – 30 .

  • MacReady, N. ( 2007 ) Developing countries court medical tourists . The Lancet 369 (9576) : 1849 – 1850 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Canadian Press . ( 2009 ) Keeping health-care money home . Metro Weekend 27–29 November: 5 (Toronto Edition) .

  • ESCAP . ( 2007 ) Medical Travel in Asia and the Pacific. Challenges and Opportunities . Bangkok: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific .

  • York, D. ( 2008 ) Medical tourism: The trend towards outsourcing medical procedures to foreign countries . The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions 28 (2) : 99 – 102 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, J. ( 2008 ) Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Travel, 2nd edn. Chapel Hill, NC: Healthy Travel Media .

    Google Scholar 

  • Sengupta, A. and Nundy, S. ( 2005 ) The private health sector in India . British Medical Journal 331 (7526) : 1157 – 1158 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhagwati, J. and Madan, S. ( 2008 ) Comprehensive healthcare in US can be realised . (Letter to the editor). FT.com, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc8a870a-d091-11dd-ae00-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1, accessed 27 January 2010 .

  • McLean, T.R. ( 2007 ) Commentary: The industrialization of medical tourism and the Blue Ridge Paper claim . Journal of Controversial Medical Claims 14 (1) : 18 – 19 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, L.A. ( 2007 ) Medical tourism takes off, but not without debate . Managed Care 16 (4) : 45 – 47 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, J. ( 2008 ) Aetna and Hannaford make a Singapore connection . Managed Care 17 (3) : 44 – 47 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Food and Drug Administration . ( 2008 ) Birmingham hip resurfacing system approval, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf4/p040033a.pdf, accessed 27 January 2010 .

  • Dunn, P. ( 2007 ) Medical tourism takes flight . Hospitals and Health Networks 81 (11) : 40 – 44 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Shimazono, Y. ( 2007 ) The state of the international organ trade: A provisional picture based on integration of available information . Bulletin of the World Health Organization 85 (12) : 955 – 962 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, L. ( 2008 ) ‘Medical tourism’ initiatives should exclude commercial organ transplantation . Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 101 (8) : 391 – 394 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennings, G. ( 2002 ) Reproductive tourism as moral pluralism in motion . Journal of Medical Ethics 28 (6) : 337 – 341 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulay, S. and Gibson, E. ( 2006 ) Marketing of assisted human reproduction and the Indian State . Development 49 : 84 – 93 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khamash, H.A. and Gaston, R.S. ( 2008 ) Transplant tourism: A modern iteration of an ancient problem . Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation 13 (4) : 395 – 399 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budiani-Saberi, D.A. and Delmonico, F.L. ( 2008 ) Organ trafficking and transplant tourism: A commentary on the global realities . American Journal of Transplantation 8 (5) : 925 – 929 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, M. ( 2009 ) Sociological and ethical issues in transplant commercialism . Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation 14 (2) : 134 – 139 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Noorani, M.A. ( 2008 ) Commercial transplantation in Pakistan and its effects on Western countries . British Medical Journal 336 (7657) : 1378 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, L. ( 1999 ) Where it hurts: Indian materials for an ethics of organ transplantation . Daedalus 128 (4) : 135 – 165 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Phadke, K.D. and Anandh, U. ( 2002 ) Ethics of paid organ donation . Pediatric Nephrology 17 (5) : 309 – 311 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naqvi, S.A., Ali, B., Mazhar, F., Zafar, M.N. and Rizvi, S.A. ( 2007 ) A socioeconomic survey of kidney vendors in Pakistan . Transplant International 20 (11) : 934 – 939 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakdash, T. and Scheper-Hughes, N. ( 2006 ) Is it ethical for patients with renal disease to purchase kidneys from the world's poor? PLoS Medicine 3 (10) : 1699 – 1702, (e349) .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheper-Hughes, N. ( 2002 ) The ends of the body – Commodity fetishism and the global traffic in organs . SAIS Review 22 (1) : 61 – 80 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattoo, A. and Rathindran, R. ( 2006 ) How health insurance inhibits trade in health care: Eliminating the current bias in health plans against treatment abroad could lead to significant cost savings . Health Affairs 25 (2) : 358 – 368 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wapner, J. ( 2008 ) American Medical Association provides guidance on medical tourism . British Medical Journal 337 : a575 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, M.I., Camberos, A.E. and Ascherman, J. ( 2005 ) Mycobacteria abscessus outbreak in US patients linked to offshore surgicenter . Annals of Plastic Surgery 55 (1) : 107 – 110 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healy, C. ( 2009 ) Surgical tourism and the globalisation of healthcare . Irish Journal of Medical Science 178 (2) : 125 – 127 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeevan, R. and Armstrong, A. ( 2008 ) Cosmetic tourism and the burden on the NHS . Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery 61 (12) : 1423 – 1424 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bookman, M.Z. and Bookman, K.R. ( 2007 ) Medical Tourism in Developing Countries . New York: Palgrave Macmillan .

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Discover Medical Tourism . (2008) Medical tourism statistics, http://www.discovermedicaltourism.com/statistics/#, accessed 26 January 2010 .

  • Health-Tourism.com . ( 2009 ) http://www.health-tourism.com/destinations, accessed 26 January 2010 .

  • Mullan, F. ( 2006 ) Doctors for the world: Indian physician emigration . Health Affairs 25 (2) : 380 – 393 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otley, T. ( 2007 ) Patients without borders . Business Traveller 11 November: 36–37 .

  • Chanda, R. ( 2007 ) Foreign Investment in Hospitals in India: Status and Implications . India: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and WHO Country Office .

    Google Scholar 

  • Labonté, R., Schrecker, T., Packer, C. and Runnels, V. (eds.) ( 2009 ) Globalization and Health: Pathways, Evidence and Policy . New York: Routledge .

    Google Scholar 

  • Meghani, Z. ( forthcoming ) A robust, particularist ethical assessment of medical tourism . Developing World Bioethics, in press .

  • Sen Gupta, A. ( 2008 ) Medical tourism in India: Winners and losers . Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 5 (1) : 4 – 5 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Saniotis, A. ( 2007 ) Changing ethics in medical practice: A Thai perspective . Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 4 (1) : 24 – 25 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilson, L., Doherty, J., Loewenson, R. and Francis, V. ( 2007 ) Challenging Inequity through Health Systems . Geneva: World Health Organization. Final Report of the Knowledge Network on Health Systems .

  • World Health Organization . ( 2008 ) Primary Health Care: Now More Than Ever . Geneva: WHO. The World Health Report 2008 .

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Health Sciences Building, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, S7N 5E5., Saskatchewan, Canada

    Laura Hopkins

  2. Globalization and Health Equity, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart Street, Ottawa, K1N 6N5, ON, Canada

    Ronald Labonté, Vivien Runnels & Corinne Packer

Authors
  1. Laura Hopkins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ronald Labonté
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Vivien Runnels
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Corinne Packer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

After reviewing data, claimed benefits, and risks the authors conclude that global implications of medical tourism remain largely unknown–and ask if the ability of elites to benefit imposes costs on access for less affluent groups.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hopkins, L., Labonté, R., Runnels, V. et al. Medical tourism today: What is the state of existing knowledge?. J Public Health Pol 31, 185–198 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2010.10

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2010.10

Keywords

Search

Navigation