Health Economics for Medical Tourism-myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theHealth Economics for Medical Tourism. Answer: Medical tourism is the travel of people in seek of medical care which is, unaffordable, prohibited or unavailable in the country of residence. It happens due to different bioethical considerations for certain medical technologies, unequal accessibility and unhealthy costs. Medical tourism has significantly been promoted in both private and government hospitals in destinations countries that find it as a crucial segment (1). Many countries have actively sought to develop medical tourism but the concern exists on the implications on the destination countries specifically to healthcare systems. Medical tourism raises a lot of challenges for health systems when it comes to regulation and finance and currently, it is driven by the interests of the businesses which are out of reach of the policy competency. Medical tourism has potential threats to health care services and health care delivery in the concern countries and it should not be ignored. For instance, it brings great inequity in t he healthcare systems. The essay will address the impact of medical tourism on health care stems and health care delivery. First and for most, there are various destinations for medical tourism in the world. These are India, Thailand, South Africa and Malaysia. India is well known for advanced medicine such as heart surgery, cancer therapy, and hip and knee replacement. Thailand is known for equipped facilities such as cosmetic and orthopaedic treatment, organ transplants, cardiac and dental surgeries (2). South Africa medical tourism arise due to cheap medical tourisms which concentrate on cosmetic surgery. Medical tourism has led to increased shortages of skilled professionals. One of the crucial reason for meagre service provision in health care system is the scarcity of qualified and skilled healthcare staffs. There is also worrying accessibility of medical staff in local community health centres in comparisons with the posts ratified. According to a recent report released in India, the country is short of 600000 doctors, 200000 dental surgeons and one million nurses. In addition, 75 percent of all medical staff in India are recruited by the private sector and it suggests that private sector is a key leading employer of health staffs (3). The increased growth in the private sector due to increase in the medical tourism has led to internal brain drain. There is a flow of quality health care specialists from the sector of public health care to the commercial sector. Medical tourism has aggravated the issues on accreditation of quality care in Thailand. It has brought lots of concerns on the quality of the healthcare particularly in the target countries and it has been on the opinions of opponents of medical tourism (4). The private sector of Thailand in collaboration with government has brought lots of initiative to counter the situation. The government has then taken lead in the accreditation process for the private sector. However, in India, medical tourism has resulted in an unregulated evolution of the private sector. It is the role of the government in regulating the private sector but it is even evident that there have been very minimal state interventions. There has not been a clear policy structure to have harmonized set of laws for the private sector (5). The existing policies have not been updated and they have been weak and their relevance has been lost completely. Furthermore, it is evident that there are no constituted mechanisms in the government to tackle their particular issue. Some constituents of the private sector have resisted accepting the applicability of some laws of their professions. Furthermore, in Malaysia, there is considerate subsidies received by the private sector in form of reduced medical equipment duties and land. The increase in growth of medical tourism could increase the need to legitimize their demands and further pressurized the government to offer more subsidies to them (6). The situation will undermine the provisions of health care because all the states resources will be much spent on subsidizing the need of the private sector. The medical tourism has an impact on the cost of medical services. In Thailand, the prices of non-exportable goods and service are determined by the domestic demand and supply. If there are many medical tourists in the country in greater number as compared to the existing medical physicians, it would increase the cost of healthcare services in the country (7). The higher prices for provisions of health care services creates lots of revenues for Thailand but the demand for medical services by foreign tourists could hinder the capability of the locals from accessing the health care. In India, 80 percent of the expenditure of health care is stomached by people via the out of pocket expenses. According to studies, medical costs in India has gone up by 55.67 and 77.28 percent in 995 and 2004 respectively. In India, the private sector provides 80 percent of the health needs of the people (7). Due to development of the state of art health facilities in this segment in combination with a high disparity in the quality of offered services within the two sectors, it will raise reliance on the private sector and the expenses on the medical treatment (14). In African countries, the strategic and structural inventions of medical tourism look to have attained the economies of scale of organization, enhanced capital access, improved use of resources and expanded market scope. However, the traditional national health systems do not have these entrepreneurial technologies and it is subjugated by payment methods which reward in regards to the spent time instead of care. By using medical tourism, there is specialization particularly in walk-in services and reduced prices (8). The earlier unimagined innovations seems to be within the range the outcome is the health care system which was earlier offered by public health being dominated by private sector via medical tourism because poor incentives for healthcare providers in the public results to the poor quality of health care. It is very clear that medical tourism implicates the finances equilibriums that are negotiated in health care particularly cross-subsidization of health care services. I believe that medical tourism is a great bonus for many countries offering it. Medical education, either privately funded or self-sponsored is subsidized by the tax man. Due to high purchasing power, medical tourist can prevent taxpayers from accessing quality health. Any government within these concern countries has the duty to bring to equilibrium the welfare of its people against the extra revenue derived from medical tourism (9). Furthermore, the government has key responsibility on taxing the medical tourists who reap benefits without assisting in payment of taxes which support training of the physicians and related medical staff and also to retrain instructors in medical schools. In addition, taxes have the potential to mitigate consequences of the additional demand for health care services on aliens with high purchasing power (10). The move to look for affordable and efficient medical services in the destination countries will assist in solving many health complicated issues. Most Africans states have been looking cancer treatment services from India not because of the cost but due to efficiency and quality of the medication (11). The move is one of the ways which the medical tourism bring a bonus to the African states due to the fact that the concerned patients and the general state will have a better health and people will continue in building the economy(12). However, medical tourism in destination countries has pushed for competition in health care systems. This is a health move which has led to development and provision of more quality health care services to the people. It is a great move and it offers chance for better transformation of health care in future The efforts of the government and private sector in South Africa to attract more medical tourists has sparked improve health care system and health care services provided by the health sectors(13). Quality healthcare provided is not only meant for medical tourists but it is for all citizens and this is one of the bonuses for the country. Its people will not be travelling to other countries for cosmetic surgery. Conclusion Medical tourism is a move by people or individuals to other countries in seek of quality, affordable, accessible health care which might not be there in their country. There are known destination countries for medical tourism, for instance, India, South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia. The move by people to these countries in an aim to get better health care has positive and negative consequences. The move is a great bonus because the taxes resulting from it has been used by different destination countries to improve the health care system through training of the students and staff and also through. It also facilities competition which gives a room for provision of better health care services. On the other hand, medical tourism has a significant impact on the number of medical staff. There is worrying shortages of medical staff which has led to poor health care provisions in public sector. However, the increased growth in the private sector due to increase in the medical tourism has le d to internal brain drain. The move by private sectors to be subsidized by the government has drained government resources which could be used in the provision of better healthcare services and better health care system. Reference List Bennie R. Medical tourism: A look at how medical outsourcing can reshape health care. Tex. Int'l LJ. 2014;49:583. Ormond M, Sulianti D. More than medical tourism: lessons from Indonesia and Malaysia on South-South intra-regional medical travel. Current Issues in Tourism. 2017 Jan 2;20(1):94-110. Mary SR. Medical tourism in Asia-An overview. IRMJCR. 2014;10:122-37 Hanefeld J, Smith R, Horsfall D, Lunt N. What do we know about medical tourism? 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