Medical tourism gaining new respectability.

Medical tourism is receiving a new respectability as overseas health care providers, health insurance, management firms and academics prepare a conference on medical offerings in other countries, to be held in Washington in early December.

Harvard Medical International, a "self-supporting subsidiary" of Harvard University Medical School, which will be participating, has facilitated development of the overseas services, in over 30 countries. They consult largely with health facilities, designed for North American and european consumers.

Until recently, Health tourism agents were a grey market industry. Now they operate in aura of "globalized health care." Some Canadians use these agents to arrange treatment overseas. These include patients who are turned down for certain procedures in Canada as "high risk," and those who are impatient with transplant and surgical waiting lists. Some go for highly experimental programs.

Plastic surgery and dental procedures that are not covered by provincial health care schemes are a steadily growing area of interest. Canadian patients often request reimbursement for their costs from provincial health care plans. Decisions on these repayments are made on a case-by-case basis.

Michael Moore's film, Sicko, ridiculed U.S. health care policies and drew attention to health care services available in Cuba. The unanticipated consequence of the film is a rise in inquiries from Americans looking to receive their healthcare services in Cuba and elsewhere.

For service in Cuba they turn to Canadian travel agents because of trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. Government.

Over 200,000 American patients are reported to have received treatments overseas, many paid for by private health insurers. The insurers are looking to "outsource" and are considering the potential to send consumers overseas for treatment.

The Washington conference Will focus on "the potential of medical tourism to help drive down the cost of healthcare for Americans, to integrate Americans into the global healthcare system and generate cost-savings for employers," the organizers state. "For any business struggling with healthcare costs, this is a must attend event."

The leading destination for medical tourism is India, where several state governments have invested heavily in facilities for overseas patients.

Meanwhile, the Times of India has reacted to globalized health services with harsh criticism of India's role as the world's major centre of medical tourism. "It is absurd that a country that cannot provide basic health to most of its citizens should try to be a hub for medical tourism. Multi-speciality hospitals will cut into public health, unless the government lays deliberate emphasis on the latter. Doctors will be weaned away from specializing in ailments that concern the masses at large, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and gynecological disorders, to concerns that affect a section of people, such as obesity, plastic surgery and so on."

Among the countries prominent in medical tourism are Costa Rica, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Lithuania, Thailand Hungary, South Africa, Thailand, and Malaysia. These, along with several Indian states, will be present to promote their products. www.consumerhealthworld.com