The medical tourism industry – an industry that has flourished tremendously at the turn of the century, has been responsible for an increase in GDP, Tourism and Social Welfare of many developing countries. The mindset that forced people to travel to developed countries to get their non-emergency operations/surgeries and medical treatments has changed. The families of the patients are now focusing more on minimizing the medical costs and avoiding the long waiting lines for availing treatment; something that is a major problem in developed countries especially in western counties. And, this boosted the medical tourism in developing countries like India, Malaysia, etc.
The gradual, yet a considerable increase in the popularity of medical tourism make it necessary to understand its effects on the society and the landscape of the medical industry of the countries it is well-established in.
Economy
Traveling cross border for getting even the simplest of health checkups is now in trend. Though it might have been odd a few years, is now considered to be a good investment.
Medical tourism is slowly becoming a healthy contributor to the GDP of developing countries. A substantial amount of revenue that is generated every year through medical tourism not only improves the working structure of the domestic medical industry but also elevate the chances of creating new employment opportunities.
As more medical tourists visit a country, there is a rise in profit for the industries working in close quarters with the medical industry. The increase in business for companies manufacturing and producing surgical equipment and over-the-counter drugs will always be directly depended on the incoming international patients.
Apart from medical industry, travel and tourism industry is bound to reap its share of monetary benefits. When a destination country like India doesn’t require any introduction for the tourists around the world, it can always use a little more international investment. Patients tend to take out the most from their investment. When you are visiting India to get affordable medical care, it makes perfect sense to give yourself a much-needed relaxation and take time from the after-effects of the surgeries.
Social and Political
As they say, if you ask someone for a small favour, they are likely to help you with a big one in the future. When international patients travel to India, it becomes a responsibility of both nations to constantly be in contact and increase the dialogue. This increased communication between the nations solidifies the political bonds – the global development, as a result, is given a clean path to throttle on.
When the responsibility of the country is focused on the cross-border tourism, it also becomes equally important for the authorities to manage the domestic structure of the services that will be provided to the patients. As the demand for health services increases, the quality of the services should also be improved at the same time – this requires manpower and technological upgrades. The combination of these paves way for improvements in public transport, employment stats, infrastructure of the hospitals, health policies, human rights regulations, etc. For developing nations, especially the countries in South Asia experience an increase in employment rates and GDP. An all-round development of the country is accelerated.
Medical tourism may seem like an industry that is only concerned with the international patients traveling to a foreign country and getting cost effective medical services but, in fact, it has various industries coordinated together whose development is directly proportional to it. The domestic society, economy of the country, and political ties; everything enhances with Medical Tourism.