Most books on medical travel have been aimed at patients.
Some business reports have been done on the potential in various countries. The first academic tome on the subject has now been published. Unlike other publications, it does not aim to promote or denigrate the subject. Neither is it a 'how to' book.
Medical Tourism in Developing Countries ISBN 9780230600057 is written by an American, Saint Joseph’s University Economist Milica Z. Bookman, Ph.D., with help from her daughter, an intellectual property attorney, Karla R. Bookman. The book explores the international trade in medical services and discusses its potential as an economic growth strategy. Dr. Bookman looks at the potential for medical travel to improve the health outcomes of these developing countries.
It concentrates on medical travel as a strategy for economic development and growth in Asia, Africa and South America. The aim is to fill the academic gap which health and tourism academics have not written about, and to try to provide a balanced view. Sections look at demand, supply, the advantages and problems of promoting medical travel, and the effect on national health care. Those hoping for up to date figures will be disappointed, as there are few, and many of the ones used are not reliable sources. To her credit, she has no time for the wilder claims made for the potential.
Bookman concludes that as a growth strategy, medical travel is likely to further increase the existing gap among less developed countries, as some are going to take off while others get left behind. She destroys the simple American myths that Africa, Asia and South America are one amorphous group, or that each continent is an entity. Each country in each continent has a different set of opportunities, advantages and disadvantages. No country should expect business to come to it just by declaiming ' we want to encourage medical travel' - and not every country is equipped to offer services. She clarifies the difference between accredititation, which is of hospitals, and credentialling/ licensing, which is of named individuals; and dismisses the notion that the US can take worldwide control of either.
She gets almost totally lost on the relationships between and activities of insurers, information websites and medical travel agencies, while referring to UK company Treatment Choices as new, without checking it closed 2 years ago. With so much misinformation online about the subject, such minor errors can be forgiven in an otherwise excellent book. An essential read for all politicians and advisors who want their country to be the latest hot medical travel destination. For those in the medical travel business, it is a must read. It will upset the ' have surgery and a holiday ' brigade, as Bookman dismisses the tourism / holiday element of medical travel as a passing fad.
