Reducing the scale? From global images to border crossings in medical tourism

Abstract

International medical travel has increased in the last 20 years, becoming more diverse and complex, although definitions and data on its growth and structure are inadequate. Many countries, especially in the Global South, have sought to develop medical tourism for both strategic and defensive reasons. Few have been successful. Standard descriptions and images of medical tourism suggest global markets, elite patient travellers and the dominance of cosmetic surgery, alongside the privatization and corporatization of hospital chains. Most international medical travel is, however, short‐distance, diasporic, across adjacent and nearby borders, and of relatively poor patients seeking cheaper, more effective or available care in appropriate cultural contexts, for straightforward procedures. Social networks, rather than the internet, shape choices and decisions on destinations. Porous international borders are crucial to medical travel and have resulted in the emergence of formal trans‐border health regions in the North and spontaneous informal regions in the South, alongside some regional hubs and hierarchies. Globalization is less significant than the grassroots transnationalism of borderland health care.

Role of Travel Motivations, Perceived Risks and Travel Constraints on Destination Image and Visit Intention in Medical Tourism: Theoretical model

“…6,9 Much of the available literature is exploratory, anecdotal in nature and highly speculative or comprised of review articles exploring different aspects of medical tourism. [13][14][15][16] Some studies have attempted to establish relationships between various factors, such as motivation, service quality, service satisfaction and revisit intention. 10,17,18 Recently, models to explain destination selection by medical tourists have been proposed; however, these models are limited to a specific source or destination and are not comprehensive.…”

Motivators and Perceptions of Island Residents towards Medical Tourism in Mainland

“…Although there have been arguments in literature over the two terms to mean the same (Lam & Hsu, 2006), they have been differentiated to fall into two separate industries (M. Smith, Puczkó, & Rátz, 2009). According to (Connell, 2016), medical tourism includes medical interventions that have more prolonged effects. One of the most accredited definitions of medical tourism is proposed by Wongkit & McKercher (2013, p.5) as "the travel of people to a specific destination to seek medical help that forms the primary purpose of the trip."…”

Movilidad por salud entre Arica y Tacna: análisis de una demanda no satisfecha y de una oferta atractiva del otro lado de la frontera

“…Muchos viajeros cruzan las fronteras de África Sub-sahariana para ser atendidos en los hospitales de Sudáfrica, los de Laos cruzan a Birmania, o los indonesios pasan a Singapur y Malasia (Connell, 2016), los mexicanos residentes en Estados Unidos cruzan a México (Parella, 2014) o los bolivianos cruzan a Chile o Argentina para ser atendidos en los servicios de salud de esos países (Vindrola-Padros, 2015). Desde Chile se cruza a la ciudad de Neu-quén (Argentina) donde los agentes de salud del Hospital Central estiman que un 30% del total de pacientes que se atiende regularmente en el hospital es de origen chileno.…”

“…Estos viajes han experimentado un aumento en los úl-timos 20 años, siendo en su mayoría Sur-Sur, informales, fronterizos y alejados de la noción de placer propia del turismo (Connell, 2016). Si bien es difícil cuantificar estos movimientos porque las personas no declaran los motivos al cruzar las fronteras, ya que normalmente lo hacen como turistas, indocumentados o clandestinos, los estudios muestran un aumento de estos viajes ante una demanda insatisfecha o no cubierta por los sistemas de salud nacionales (Ormond, 2015: 306).…”

“…Los estudios revisados que vinculan movilidad transfronteriza por salud están de acuerdo en señalar que la mayoría de los viajes médicos o "turismo médico" son Sur-Sur, de corta distancia, entre países vecinos y de pacientes relativamente pobres o insatisfechos con los sistemas de salud nacionales que buscan acceder a procedimientos terapéuticos sencillos o rutinarios (Connell, 2016;Ormond & Sulianti, 2014). Si bien existe un flujo de viajes Sur-Norte, con tratamientos o procedimientos más costosos o complejos, lo que se verifica es que hay más viajes por motivos médicos que "turismo médico" especialmente a nivel intrarregional y entre países con diferentes niveles de atención y niveles de acceso a tratamientos (Crush & Chikanda, 2015).…”