Saving an Arm and a Leg

Come for the surgery, stay for the fun! The number of “medical tourists” traveling from the Gulf to Asia has been rising substantially in recent years. Now, thousands from the GCC states are flocking to India, Thailand, and Singapore every year to receive medical treatment.

In years past, Gulf Arabs sought high quality medical treatment in Europe or the United States, and many still do. Meanwhile, the Asian health care market is booming. Singaporean hospitals host an average of 200 patients from the Gulf every month. Thailand welcomed 152,360 medical tourists from the Middle East (98,000 from UAE alone) in 2007, generating about $1.25 million for the country. India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) projected that medical tourism will be a $2 billion industry by 2012.

Relatively inexpensive medical treatment is clearly one driver on this trend. A heart operation that costs $30,000 in the United States costs a fifth as much in India; a hip replacement costs half in Singapore what it would cost in the United States or Europe.

But something else is going on as well. Travel agencies have begun to offer medical tourism packages that incorporate travel expenses, treatment, and a small post-operative vacation to ensure proper recuperation. What better way to see the sights of a distant land than with a new pair of LASIK-enhanced eyes?
No, no, let's try that again. Why not seize the opportunity to get "First World treatment at Third World prices?" (an actual description of medical tourism I found on one terrible website). Ha ha ha! Thank God we don't live in the global periphery, right Geoffrey?