Gareth+-+Memo+-+19

__Memo 19: 3 Field Sties__

In Spring 2005 the President of the Philippines, [|Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo], mentioned medical tourism in a speech, in that oration she suggested that the similarities to India, and the strength of the Philippine healthcare system would make it a successful Medical Tourism destination, and also compared to Singapore which has been a central regional medical hub. Arroyo said that the country could match India, while dismissing comparison to the much more institutionalized international position of Singapore. In this speech she launched a national initiative program to develop a medical tourism industry, based on the assumption of a comparable context to India. In the four years since, the Indian medical tourism industry has grown to be the most widely known and successful in the world, while the Philippines have not developed to be a particularly noteworthy or significant destination site. India has developed a national initiative including specific visas, international travel agencies, and government subsidies for private/public partnerships in healthcare centers. The Philippines have not had as much impact, and while it hosted the first international healthcare conference to focus on the medical tourism industry, conferences since 2006, have taken place in India, Thailand, and Las Vegas rather than continuing there. Both India and Philippines directed on a state supported private model for new healthcare development to support medical tourism, but India saw the founding and development of new hospitals, while the Philippine system remains as both began a new patient load for preexisting hospitals and health-centers. Chennai, India, and Manila, Philipines, remain the largest destination sites in each country and I will be looking at the differences and contexts to see what the industry and practices look like on the ground, and to evaluate what differences lead to and continue to differentiated the two. Interestingly a recent effort has focused on the development of a stem cell and genetics facility in the Philippines which parallels a medical destination in China, a model that has not been taken up as part of the Indian system. I would also look at the agencies and web based business of promotion of travel that is situated in the US, while maintaining buissiness and communication contacts with the destination countries. An additional comparative case would be the huge success of Bumrungrad Hospital, Bangkok Thailand, which has among other things developed into a globally dominant site for gender assignment surgery, as well as a high status and through-put health center for general medical care. In part the comparison is motivated by the unusual context and connection of the medical tourism system and sex tourism system in Thailand. While no causal connection has been documented, Bangkok has the most high profile sex tourism industry, especially the most high profile transgender sex tourism in the world, and it would be of particular interest to see the constraints and enablements the two industries have had on each other. While smaller scale sex tourism happens within India and the Philippines, the profile and cross-section of tourism industries in each country are distinctly different offering another avenue for comparison.