What are the ethical issues of health care for the local patient in medical tourism destination communities and countries?
Author: Habibur Rahman
1 Commentries
Abstract
This paper discusses the social ethical of medical tourism in developing countries as well as some few understanding of the winners and the losers within the medical tourism. Furthermore it also discusses the ethical issues of health care for the local patients in medical tourism destinations and its communities.
Keywords,
Medical Tourism, developing countries, the winners and the losers, ethical issues of health care and the local patients.
Summary:
Patients with high level of health problems or tourists with the purpose of getting surgeries for own personal reasons tend to leave their current home town and their country too gain access to unavailable medical treatments or health care services in different regions. In popularity the growth of medical tourism is rapidly growing and has a substantial amount of attention towards medical tourists and the patients. The medical travellers from USA, Europe or across any other nations or borders are motivated and driven to fly away to a different destination where it’s cheaper for the treatments and have faster health care services. Number of patients from USA, UK or Canada tends to travel abroad because they have issues with the health care services in their own home country due to the high level of costs, the lengthy time periods or a lack of availabilities and novelty. (Snyder, J, 2010).
In South Asia and Asia such as India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, the medical health care has been expanding substantially as the tourism health care industry has been developing for lucrative business opportunities for the country. (Nicola S and Kai Hong, 2012). These countries are capitalising their reputation as a tourism destination by facilitating a high quality of medical services at competitive prices for tourist outside their countries. Medical Tourism happens to creates solution for the people who are seeking lower cost with a high quality care elsewhere, where they cannot find it at home. These type tourists may be an uninsured or underinsured for medical purchases when health care are insufficient or unavailable in their country. The medical tourism industries in some Asian countries such as China, Thailand, Indian and Malaysia have the immense amount of tourists travelling to their country for better care and cure. The growths of these medical industries in these countries are known to be specialised in treatments. In Thailand they provide one of the highest standards of cosmetic surgeries, in India they have several specialities of treatment for instance neurology, orthopaedics, and cardiology and in China they often tend to combine their treatment with their traditional Chinese medications by few touch of culture to the medical tourism industry. Furthermore in developed countries the medical tourism has increased its value due the rising demands of health care, crossing boarders, medical exercises and continuous air travels. Moreover, medical tourism has several procedures which benefit the local developing countries. Most of the medical tourism destinations are profited by the economy and the income the tourism industry brings to the country.
There are few issues that are associated with the medical tourism industries. Although it has many advantages for participating in medical tourism for the low cost of medical treatment with better service and with high quality of health care, the risks can have legal and ethical issues amongst the local people who are currently already living in the country. (The Guardian, 2012). Many researchers and scholars have indicated numerous concerns towards the medical tourism industries. The ethical issues that a concern with the medical tourism potentially has impact on both patients and the communities. Due to the lack of communication the medical tourism may have an effect on patient’s health and may risk the insufficiency of informed consent of medical care. Furthermore the issues around medical tourism can have a huge impact due to the illegal purchases towards medical treatment and operations. Also increasing the sales of medical care to prioritise the better facility of health care to provide more productive care for tourist who travelled from different countries with high hopes of special treatment and care. However the reorientation of health care may reduce access to health treatment for local patients in medical tourism destination communities. In India, the medical tourism has several powerful influences where there are some local residents that can afford to cover the expense for their medical care immediately while there are some parts of India where poorer people either have to wait in the queues for medical care or they do not have enough money to pay for their medication. The quality of care is a serious concern however the medical tourism organisations usually sort out the arrangements through international hospital as the quality of health care around the world is adjustable. (Turner L, 2007). Some researchers have previously argued that the tourists who are seeking for medical care might increase the expenses of the medication from the same care for the locals, who can just about to afford it. This means if the healthcare facilities only specialize in treating the tourist, it could pull away the local doctors from their local patients. Furthermore the arrival of tourist could increase the chances of delays or waiting time for the local people, which medical tourism already raised concerns about health equity in countries like India, Thailand Singapore and Malaysia, this could worsen the inequalities that are already present. (Ethical & Social Issues of Medical Tourism, 2014).
References:
Miles, S. (2014). Ethical and Social Issues on Medical Tourism. Available: http://trip4care.com/ethical-and-social-issues-on-medical-tourism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ethical-and-social-issues-on-medical-tourism. Last accessed 2015
Milica, Z and Karla, R (2007). Medical tourism in developing countries. England: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN.
Nicola S and Kai Hong Phua. (2011). Medical tourism and policy implications for health systems: a conceptual framework from a comparative study of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Globalization and Health.
Snyder, J. (2010). What is known about the effects of medical tourism in destination and departure countries? A scoping review. Available: http://www.equityhealthj.com/content/pdf/1475-9276-9-24.pdf.
Turner, L. (2007). Family medicine and international health-related travel. Available: http://www.cfp.ca/content/53/10/1639.short. Last accessed 2015.
Turner,L (2007). Medical Tourism. McGill University: Biomedical Ethics Unit.
This paper discusses the social ethical of medical tourism in developing countries as well as some few understanding of the winners and the losers within the medical tourism. Furthermore it also discusses the ethical issues of health care for the local patients in medical tourism destinations and its communities.
Keywords,
Medical Tourism, developing countries, the winners and the losers, ethical issues of health care and the local patients.
Summary:
Patients with high level of health problems or tourists with the purpose of getting surgeries for own personal reasons tend to leave their current home town and their country too gain access to unavailable medical treatments or health care services in different regions. In popularity the growth of medical tourism is rapidly growing and has a substantial amount of attention towards medical tourists and the patients. The medical travellers from USA, Europe or across any other nations or borders are motivated and driven to fly away to a different destination where it’s cheaper for the treatments and have faster health care services. Number of patients from USA, UK or Canada tends to travel abroad because they have issues with the health care services in their own home country due to the high level of costs, the lengthy time periods or a lack of availabilities and novelty. (Snyder, J, 2010).
In South Asia and Asia such as India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, the medical health care has been expanding substantially as the tourism health care industry has been developing for lucrative business opportunities for the country. (Nicola S and Kai Hong, 2012). These countries are capitalising their reputation as a tourism destination by facilitating a high quality of medical services at competitive prices for tourist outside their countries. Medical Tourism happens to creates solution for the people who are seeking lower cost with a high quality care elsewhere, where they cannot find it at home. These type tourists may be an uninsured or underinsured for medical purchases when health care are insufficient or unavailable in their country. The medical tourism industries in some Asian countries such as China, Thailand, Indian and Malaysia have the immense amount of tourists travelling to their country for better care and cure. The growths of these medical industries in these countries are known to be specialised in treatments. In Thailand they provide one of the highest standards of cosmetic surgeries, in India they have several specialities of treatment for instance neurology, orthopaedics, and cardiology and in China they often tend to combine their treatment with their traditional Chinese medications by few touch of culture to the medical tourism industry. Furthermore in developed countries the medical tourism has increased its value due the rising demands of health care, crossing boarders, medical exercises and continuous air travels. Moreover, medical tourism has several procedures which benefit the local developing countries. Most of the medical tourism destinations are profited by the economy and the income the tourism industry brings to the country.
There are few issues that are associated with the medical tourism industries. Although it has many advantages for participating in medical tourism for the low cost of medical treatment with better service and with high quality of health care, the risks can have legal and ethical issues amongst the local people who are currently already living in the country. (The Guardian, 2012). Many researchers and scholars have indicated numerous concerns towards the medical tourism industries. The ethical issues that a concern with the medical tourism potentially has impact on both patients and the communities. Due to the lack of communication the medical tourism may have an effect on patient’s health and may risk the insufficiency of informed consent of medical care. Furthermore the issues around medical tourism can have a huge impact due to the illegal purchases towards medical treatment and operations. Also increasing the sales of medical care to prioritise the better facility of health care to provide more productive care for tourist who travelled from different countries with high hopes of special treatment and care. However the reorientation of health care may reduce access to health treatment for local patients in medical tourism destination communities. In India, the medical tourism has several powerful influences where there are some local residents that can afford to cover the expense for their medical care immediately while there are some parts of India where poorer people either have to wait in the queues for medical care or they do not have enough money to pay for their medication. The quality of care is a serious concern however the medical tourism organisations usually sort out the arrangements through international hospital as the quality of health care around the world is adjustable. (Turner L, 2007). Some researchers have previously argued that the tourists who are seeking for medical care might increase the expenses of the medication from the same care for the locals, who can just about to afford it. This means if the healthcare facilities only specialize in treating the tourist, it could pull away the local doctors from their local patients. Furthermore the arrival of tourist could increase the chances of delays or waiting time for the local people, which medical tourism already raised concerns about health equity in countries like India, Thailand Singapore and Malaysia, this could worsen the inequalities that are already present. (Ethical & Social Issues of Medical Tourism, 2014).
References:
Miles, S. (2014). Ethical and Social Issues on Medical Tourism. Available: http://trip4care.com/ethical-and-social-issues-on-medical-tourism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ethical-and-social-issues-on-medical-tourism. Last accessed 2015
Milica, Z and Karla, R (2007). Medical tourism in developing countries. England: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN.
Nicola S and Kai Hong Phua. (2011). Medical tourism and policy implications for health systems: a conceptual framework from a comparative study of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Globalization and Health.
Snyder, J. (2010). What is known about the effects of medical tourism in destination and departure countries? A scoping review. Available: http://www.equityhealthj.com/content/pdf/1475-9276-9-24.pdf.
Turner, L. (2007). Family medicine and international health-related travel. Available: http://www.cfp.ca/content/53/10/1639.short. Last accessed 2015.
Turner,L (2007). Medical Tourism. McGill University: Biomedical Ethics Unit.