International medical tourism in the formation of the global segment of medical services.

Mykola Povoroznyk
Postgraduate student of International Accounting and Audit Department, Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman, e-mail:kirikma@ukr.net

Cite this article:

Povoroznyk, M. (2017). International medical tourism in the formation of the global segment of medical services. Ed.: M. Zveryakov (ed.-in-ch.) and others [Mizhnarodnyi medychnyi turyzm u formuvanni hlobalnoho sehmentu medychnykh posluh; za red.: М. I. Zveriakova (gol. red.) ta in.], Socio-economic research bulletin; Vìsnik socìal’no-ekonomìčnih doslìdžen’ (ISSN 2313-4569), Odessa National Economic University, Odessa, No. 2-3 (63-64), pp. 16–24.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the features of international medical tourism as a global segment of medical services. The most required by medical tourists types of treatment are considered. International medical tourism as a specific type of socially useful activity aimed at providing tourist services of medical and recreational nature in the form of temporary departure of an individual or group of persons abroad is explored. The methodology for calculating the medical tourism index is analyzed in detail. Based on the analysis of international experience, the most required by medical tourists types of treatment are identified. The main causes of the huge gap in the cost of medical services of the countries-leaders and states with newly-created markets are determined.

Keywords

medical services; medical tourism; medical industry; tourism industry; global segment.

JEL classification: F020; I150;  DOI: https://doi.org/10.33987/vsed.2-3(63-64).2017.16-24

UD classification: 339.9:614.2

References

1. Eto, H. (2015). New business opportunities in the growing e-tourism industry, University of Tsukuba, Tokio, p. 136.
2. Medical tourism market by treatment type (cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurological, cancer treatment, fertility), Global opportunity analysis and industry forecast, 2015–2022, available at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/medical-tourism-market.
3. Smith, R. D. (2004). Foreign direct investment and trade in health services: a review of the literature, Social Science & Medicine, No. 59, pp. 2313–2323.
4. Smith, R. D., Rupa, C., Viroj, T. (2009). Trade in health-related services, The Lancet (doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61778-X).
5. Youngman, I. Medical tourism facts and figures 2015, available at: https://www.imtj.com/sites/ default/files/asset/asset/Medical%20Tourism%20Facts%20and%20Figures%202015_0.pdf.
6. Khorana, S. (2016). International trade in the health sector: forgotten frontier? Trade Hot Topics, Issue 126.
7. Lancaster, J. (2004). Surgeries, side trips for medical tourists, Washington Post, October 21, 2004.
8. Medical tourism market (India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea, Costa Rica, Poland, Dubai and Philippines), Global industry analysis, size, share, growth, trends and forecast, 2013–2019, available at: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ medical-tourism.html.
9. Kelley, E. (2013). Medical tourism, WHO Patient Safety Programme, 02 October, 2013.
10. Gunasekera K., Bremer M. (2015). Medical tourism: what’s next for Asia? Stax perspective on the Asian medical tourism industry, March, 2015.
11. Rusanova, N. Е. (2009). «Reproductive tourism» in Russia: opportunities and challenges [«Reproduktivnyy turizm» v Rossii: vozmozhnosti i problemy], Servis plyus, No. 3, s. 83–86 [in Russian]
12. Lunt, N., Smith, R., Exworthy, M., Green, S. T., Horsfall, D., Mannion, R. (2015). Medical tourism: treatment, markets and health system implications: a scoping review, OECD: Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.
13. Piazolo, М. (2011). Medical tourism – a case study for the USA and India, Germany and Hungary, Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 137–160.
14. Kovaleva, I. P. (2015). Foreign experience of medical tourism development on the example of Germany [Zarubezhnyy opyt razvitiya meditsinskogo turizma na primere Germanii], Aktualnye voprosy ekonomicheskikh nauk, No. 42, s. 107–115 [in Russian]
15. Health workforce migration: migration of doctors, OECD statistics, available at: http://stats.oecd.org.
16. Rubinskaya, E. D. (2015). International labor migration development in the dynamics of globalization processes [Razvitie mezhdunarodnoy migratsii rabochey sily v dinamike globalizatsionnykh protsessov], Вопросы регулирования экономики, T. 6, No. 1, s. 83–90 [in Russian]