The medical tourism boom

Australia has one of the best and most accessible health systems in the world, so what would motivate someone to travel overseas for surgery or medical treatment? Professor Kerryn Phelps investigates.

SO-CALLED “medical tourism” is a booming market, attracting thousands of Australians every year. We don’t know exactly how many people head offshore for surgery, but one indication comes from research at University of Technology, Sydney, which looked at the numbers for cosmetic surgery and found that about 15,000 Australians a year travel overseas to countries including India, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia and Turkey for such surgery, spending about $300 million a year. This does not include all of the other medical and dental procedures or other destinations. One private health insurance fund actually offers offshore cosmetic surgery packages for members and non-members. There is also inbound medical tourism. According to the Australian Trade Commission, the medical tourism industry in Australia is small relative to the highly competitive global industry and…

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The Australian Women's Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2015

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