A Study of the Phenomenon of Medical Tourism within the Context of the General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS)

Cardiac surgery, for example, costs USD 30,000 in the US but USD 8,000 in India; a bone marrow transplant is USD 250,000 in the US but only USD 69,000 in India; a dental filling is priced at USD 400 in the US but only USD 40 in India – and includes round-trip airfare and a brief vacation package. A knee replacement in Thailand with six days of physical therapy costs about one-fifth of what it would in the United States and further, a Lasik eye surgery worth $3,700 in the U.S. is available in many other countries for only $730.Cosmetic surgery savings are even greater: A full facelift that would cost $20,000 in the U.S. runs about $1,250 in South Africa. Why put up with expensive, run-of-the-mill health care at home when you can be treated just as well abroad? Health care generates some USD 3 trillion per year while, in 2009 alone, tourism accounted for USD 3.3 trillion in the GDP of countries throughout the world. From Greeks visiting Epidaurus to Romans immersing themselves in the healing waters of Bath to 19th century Europeans flocking to spa towns and sanatoria, people have travelled long distances hoping to restore their health for millennia. What is new is that, in spite of the existence of excellent local medical care in their countries of origin, many medical tourists residing in richer countries are simply unable to access what is right next door. The sphere of health care has been transformed by private, for-profit interests, where price and private insurance schemes reign and dictate who has access to treatment, surgery and medication and who does not. This paper attempts to understand the phenomenon of medical tourism and how its character has been radically altered with the advent of globalization and the introduction of the General Agreement in Trade in Services (GATS). It would also include a discussion as to what factors of late have encouraged this trend further especially towards the Asian region. It also aims to look at a few case studies in the Asian region to see how health care tourism has been evolved and growing amidst the backdrop of liberalizing trade environments today