Medical Tourism in Developing Countries

Western patients are increasingly travelling to developing countries for health care and developing countries are increasingly offering their skills and facilities to paying foreign customers. The potential and implications of this international trade in medical services is explored in this book through analysis of the market.

'This book by Milica and Karla Bookman is truly groundbreaking. It not only explores a subject that has been missed by researchers and policy makers but also makes a unique contribution to our understanding of globalization. This book demonstrates the extent to which globalization has extended itself to services and that certain types of expertise which were thought to be non-tradeable have been transformed. When tens if not hundreds of thousands of people from the industrialized world are ready to move to obtain medical attention in the developing one, with all that this requires in terms of sophisticated technology and a highly skilled labor, it then means that we are on the verge of a revolutionary change that is far deeper than we had ever anticipated. The implication of the Bookman and Bookman book is that we may be moving into a world where the only non-tradable services will be offered by your barber and car mechanic.'

- Henri J. Barkey, Department Chair and Cohen Professor of International Relations, Lehigh University"This is an excellent, well-documented and carefully organized analysis of a type of travel that is not new but which has grown and changed dramatically in the last decade. This book is destined to be a benchmark study. Packed with insights and startling statistics it is also blessedly free of jargon, making it a superb resource for both scholars andstudents alike."

- Linda K. Richter, Kansas State University"The authors in a well-written style have captured a fascinating transition in our out-of-control health delivery system, which has provoked an exodus of our citizens to look for more affordable health care solutions overseas than they can obtain in the United States. It documents and captures this important and developing trend to seek expert and quality care somewhere other thanone's own hometown. This is a must-read for the public as well as our health policy leaders, hospital CEOs and academia." - Robert Schwartz, M.D., President of the Medical Staff, Jackson Memorial Hospital, and Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

MILICA ZARKOVIC BOOKMAN is Professor of Economics at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, USA. She is the author of nine books, including Tourists, Migrants and Refugees as well as The Demographic Struggle for Power. She is the recipient of the Tengelmann Award for excellence in research.

KARLA R. BOOKMAN is a recent graduate of Columbia Law School, USA, and has completed internships with the World Intellectual Property Organization and a judge in the Southern District of New York. She is currently a litigator at a New York firm.