Emerging issues in medical tourism: A case study of cosmetic surgeries in Mexico

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Emerging issues in medical tourism: A case study of cosmetic surgeries in Mexico
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MANAGEMENT
Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the industry............................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the situation.......................................................................................................3
Growing trend of the cosmetic surgery..................................................................................5
Options for travelling abroad for getting better treatment.....................................................6
Evaluating the effectiveness of cosmetic surgery services in Australia....................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Tourism industry has lots in store for the people coming from outside to spend their
vacation, business purpose, medical treatment among others in the threshold of Australia.
Provision of quality services in restaurants, hotels, transportation and medical parameters are
a means for influencing the purchasing power and decision of the tourists. Narrowing down
the focus, the assignment would focus on medical tourism in particular. As per the revelations
of the Better health Channel, medical tourism has achieved accolades and glory by generating
$54.6 billion annual revenue. According to the estimate of the Australian Trade and
Investment Commission, the industry is expected to grow by 25% in terms of the annual
calculation. This would be a hike in the GDP along with the 3.2% contribution in the GDP
(Australian Govt. Productivity Commission 2015).
Overview of the industry
Over the last two decades, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of
people preferring medical tours and travels. The major drive behind this are rising costs of the
healthcare services in Australia, difference in quality and accessibility towards the healthcare
services, technological innovation, lower transport costs, trade liberalization among others. In
case of Australia, commercialization of the medical tourism is perceived as scattered. In the
era of 2010, the tourists travelling for medical reasons were only 0.23%. This is
approximately, 5.5 million people. In the phase of 2005-2010, the percentage of annual
growth was estimated to be around 14% as compared to the 2% of the total tourists.
According to the estimates, the average spending on healthcare tourism accounts for $3973
including the airfares, accommodation and others (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
2019).

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MANAGEMENT
Discussion
Overview of the situation
The number of tourists visiting Australia locally is low as compared to the number of
tourists visiting Australia from outside. The main reasons of this are the high costs of the
healthcare services, lack of technologies among others. Supervision of the clinics by the
Ministry of health standardizes the provision of the healthcare services. Mention can be made
of uplifting the restrictions on the retail pharmacies, which have intensified the competition
between the healthcare settings in Australia with that of Mexico, Thailand, Germany,
Singapore and India. Recording of the information on electronic devices have enhanced the
transparency and coordination in the parameter of palliative care (Abc News 2018).
Narrowing down the focus, the segment would concentrate on the aspect of cosmetic
surgery. According to the reports of Foxnews.com (2019), a Texas women, suffering from
severe brain damage from surgical complications, related to plastic surgery, died in Mexico.