medical tourism: more canadians seeking health care ...in 2013, almost 50,000 canadians became...
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Medical tourism: more Canadians seeking healthcare outside the country
by Jodie Karpf (http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/en/author/jodie-karpf/), under: Article
(http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/en/category/article/), Faculty of Health Sciences
(http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/en/category/article/faculty-of-health-sciences/), Faculty of Medicine
(http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/en/category/article/faculty-of-medicine/), Research
(http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/en/category/article/research/).
(http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Medical-tourism-2.png)
In 2013, almost 50,000 Canadians became “medical tourists,” that is, people who seek health care outside the country.
University of Ottawa researchers Ronald Labonté, Vivien Runnels, Corinne Packer, and Raywat Deonandan have edited a
book, Travelling Well: Essays in Medical Tourism , to better explore this phenomenon. You can hear them speak May 7 at the
Heart and Crown, 67 Clarence St., from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. It’s a free event, open to the public (RSVP to [email protected]
(mailto:[email protected])). You can also download the book for free
(http://www.iph.uottawa.ca/eng/transdis/files/Volume%204%20Issue%201.pdf).
We spoke to the authors about this multi-billion dollar industry.
Q: What motivates Canadians to travel abroad for medical care?
A: One answer is waiting lists. For example, Eastern Ontarians wait 343 days for a hip replacement. If you can get surgery right
away in India, that’s a big motivation. Other factors include the availability of services — it may be possible to get a donor egg in
Canada, but you can probably get one faster in the U.S.A. or Brazil. People may also want services that are illegal in Canada,
like purchasing a kidney. Waiting for an organ to arise altruistically here may cost you your life. But if your ethics allow it, you
might be able to get one directly from a healthy but poor person in Vietnam willing to trade a kidney for cash.
(http://www.gazette.uottawa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/jpg)Q: Why should we care
about medical tourism?
A: Medical tourism is about freedom of choice, but it’s also a values issue. Yes, we can purchase the service outside of
Canada, but why isn’t it available here in a more timely fashion? Are we willing to let our own tax-funded health system off the
hook?
Posted on Tuesday May 6th, 2014
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Then there are the ethics of the countries that provide these services. Very often they are
low- or middle-income countries with poor health care access for their own citizens.
When their doctors are treating comparatively wealthy Canadians, they are likely
neglecting their own people. Is this ethical? And should our health care system pick up
the tab for treating medical tourists who return with post-surgical complications, or a
drug-resistant infection picked up in a foreign hospital?
And finally, there’s the ethics surrounding the organ trade. Should we assume that,
even if poor people elsewhere may want to sell their organs, they are doing so as a
matter of individual choice and autonomy?
Q: Any final thoughts about medical tourism and Canadians?
A: The number of Canadian medical tourists is not insubstantial and it’s likely growing.
The sooner we get a grasp on its extent, motivators and likely directions, the better we
can manage it and the healthier our population will be. How can we make it a win-win
for patients, our health care system and all the countries involved?
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