Working out which nationalities go where for medical treatment is an intriguing question. Speaking at a recent medical tourism seminar at the University of Texas, USA, a Texas based medical tourism agent Deepak Datta of Medical Tourism Corporation, shared his insights with a class of MBA business students. He discussed the current trends in medical tourism and the various factors that have fueled globalization of healthcare in the past decade.

Deepak Datta discounted the myth that medical tourism is about flying thousands of miles across continents, “Medical tourism is a regional phenomenon, with most medical tourists preferring to visit nearby countries for their healthcare needs. While Americans and Canadians mostly head to Mexico and Costa Rica, people from Africa and the Middle East prefer to go to India. Korea is the medical destination of choice for many people from Japan, while Thailand is the top choice for most Australians.”

Datta went on to explain why medical tourism is regional, “Price, safety, travel distance, visa rules, local laws and quality of healthcare are obviously the chief considerations for medical tourists while deciding their healthcare destination, but cultural influence is important. While US Hispanics head to Mexico, the British prefer other European countries.”

He explained why there is some global medical tourism for certain specialties, “A destination’s reputation for a particular medical service also matters and some countries are more popular for certain procedures than others. Surrogacy in India attracts foreigners struggling with infertility issues.’’

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