Introdution to medical tourism

1. Medical Tourism
-Dr.Sharad H. Gajuryal
Medical Tourism /Health Tourism can be defined as the process of travelling
from one destination to another with the primary purpose of receiving medical
care and secondary purpose of travelling tourist destinations and attractions.
Mathieson and Wall (1982) created a good working definition of tourism as "the
temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and
residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the
facilities created to cater to their needs."
Latest buzz word for medical tourism -“ Medical Value Travel”.
History of Medical Tourism dates back to thousands of years from Greek and Roman period
when people use to travel from one territory to other for healing purpose.eg Mineral waters
& Hot Spring Visit. Florence Nightingale also gave emphasis on Medial Tourism as she used
to direct the patients to the spas of Turkey which is significantly less expensive. Spa,
sanitarium and Health farm were also considered as a rising form of medical tourism.
Types of Medical Tourism
Outbound Medical Tourism: Process of travelling other countries from country of residence for
treatment purpose.
Inbound Medical Tourism: International Patients coming to country of residence from outer
countries for treatment.
Intrabound Medical Tourism: Patients travelling from one place to other within same country for
treatment.
Planning Issues
1.ACCREDITATION
2. LOCAL
ADMINISTRATIVE
ISSUES
Safety & Security
Connectivity
Accomodation
Cultural Issue

2. Key Drivers for Medical Tourism :
The most important factor that drives medical tourism to India is its low cost. Majority of foreign
patients visit India primarily to avail of “First world Service at Third World cost “
Threats :
Pareto’s Law
Strong Competition from countries like China, Thailand, Malasia. Singapore.
Socio-religious factor
Increased proportion of tourists from non-English speaking countries.
Further Issues :
Ethical Issues
Legal Issues
Publicity Issues
Local Administrative issues