What is it about?

During a doctoral seminar of Professor Nikhilesh Dholakia at the University of Rhode Island (URI), Ralph Perfetto (who brought in strong health information services experience prior to his doctoral work) started examining the growing trend of medical tourism, especially to Asian destinations. This paper resulted from net-based ethnographic work on online medical tourism related forums.

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Why is it important?

While medical tourism has gained a bit more acceptance since this paper appeared, the key conflicts and tensions evident in this paper remain. Medicine and health services remain regulated at national (rather than global) levels..yet, global options for health delivery are expanding. The world still needs to sort out how to allow the benefits of globalization to flow to patients, without jeopardizing quality (or taking undue risks). Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) adds new significance to this.

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This page is a summary of: Exploring the cultural contradictions of medical tourism, Consumption Markets & Culture, November 2010, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/10253866.2010.502417.
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