Medical Tourism
Medical tourism is the term commonly used to describe the phenomenon of people traveling outside their home country primarily for the purpose of seeking medical treatment.4, 5 Traditionally, international medical travel was done by patients from less developed countries to major medical centers in a developed country for treatment that was not available in their home country. However, the term ‘medical tourism’ generally refers to people from developed countries traveling to less developed countries for medical care. In a recent Hastings Center Report, Cohen suggested separating medical tourism into three types:
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Services that are illegal in both the patient's home country and the destination country, such as organ sales
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Services that are illegal in the patient's home country but legal in the destination country, such as some stem cell therapies
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Services that are legal in both the patient's home country and the destination country, such as joint replacement.
Each of these types of medical tourism presents different ethical and other issues for clinicians working with patients considering traveling for these services.
Medical travel is expected to increase significantly in the next 5–10 years.5 However, very few reliable epidemiologic data on medical tourism currently exist. Prevalence estimates for medical tourism range from 60 000 to 750 000 medical tourists annually.5,8 One reason for the differences in estimates is that various groups define medical tourism in different ways, and may include travelers going to spas and for traditional healing. Another is that certain groups, such as McKinley & Company, do not consider Mexico and Canada as destinations for their estimates.
The most common categories of procedures that people pursue during medical tourism trips include cosmetic surgery, dentistry, cardiology (cardiac surgery), and orthopedic surgery. Other surgeries include bariatric and reproductive procedures. Common destinations include Iran ,Thailand, Mexico, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, and Costa Rica. The type of procedure and the destination need to be considered when reviewing the risk of travel for medical care.
