Tourism is a global phenomenon. Because it is an important, even vital, source of income for many countries in the world. Its importance was recognized in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 as “an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations and its indirect effects on the development of allied industries like transport, hotel etc.”.Medical Tourism is one form of tourisms and which means a journey that patients take from one country to another country to get cost effective and efficient medical treatment, followed by a great vacation at some of the most beautiful locations. India is one of the major players in this industry. Currently, it hosts about 1.27 million medical tourists from industrialized countries like UK, USA and Canada and from its neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and China. Its foreign exchange earnings from medical tourism are estimated to be around US $ 1.8 billion. The estimated number of medial tourists in India in 2015 would be between 1.21 million and 2.78 million. The estimated revenue would lie between US $ 1719 million to US $ 3964 million in 2015. Medical tourism industry in India has potential to contribute around 25 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in the next five years, if fully tapped.The present book titled Sociology of Medical Tourism highlights various dimensions, identifies different issues and suggests further development of this multimillion dollar industry in India in an in-depth manner. Medical Tourism is one of the most important trust areas which emerge in the past century and because of its multiple level of use it also become subject matter of research in various subjects including Sociology. It is hoped that this book, with its wide-ranging and in-depth content, critical insights and detailed analysis of the concept, prove to be immensely resourceful to the readers. I also assure that this book should be proven an informative referral for those who are working and doing research in the field of medical tourism.

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Medicine and Health, grade: 1,7, Bielefeld University (Fakultät für Soziologie), course: Medical Sociology, language: English, abstract: This seminar paper concentrates on the topic of medical tourism. What is medical tourism? Since when does it exist? What kinds of medical tourism are the most famous ones? What kind of impact does it have on the quality of medical treatments or a state’s economy? Those questions will be answered in this seminar paper. In the first part, I will concentrate on the definition on medical tourism. Later, I will focus on different kinds of medical tourism regarding to the definition, for example surrogate parenthood, plastic surgery, and abortion. Afterwards, I will name negative and positive impacts of medical tourism in a short summary.

This title provides a systematic and accessible introduction to medical sociology, beginning each 1500 word entry with a definition of the concept, then examines its origins, development, strengths and weaknesses, offering further reading guidance for independent learning, and drawing on international literature and examples.

The phenomenon of transnational health care has grown rapidly over recent years and this book provides a comprehensive landscape of diverse research communities' attempts to capture its implications for existing bodies of knowledge in selected aspects of medicine, medical ethics, health policy and management, and tourism studies.

How do we understand health in relation to society? What role do social processes, structures and culture play in shaping our experiences of health and illness? How do we understand medicine and healthcare within a sociological framework? Drawing on international literature and examples, this new edition of Key Concepts in Medical Sociology: · Systematically explains the concepts that have preoccupied medical sociology from its inception, and which have shaped the field as it exists today. · Includes new entries, such as pandemics and epidemics, the environment, intersectionality, pharmaceuticalization, medical tourism and sexuality. · Begins each entry with a definition of the concept then examines its origins, development, strengths and weaknesses, and concludes with suggested further reading for independent learning. Key Concepts in Medical Sociology is essential reading for students in medical sociology as well as those undertaking professional training in health-related disciplines.

From exotic spa treatments to euthanasia, this book examines the background and social context of medical tourism—the practice of traveling for health care. This work also documents how this industry is reshaping the face of medicine worldwide for individuals, local communities, and national health care systems. Medical Tourism: A Reference Handbook provides an accessible overview of the state of medical tourism, written from a balanced, unbiased perspective. The authors provide relevant social context for this controversial topic, discussing the state of extremely limited research data on medical tourism; the ethical issues involved, such as traveling to have a black-market organ transplanted; and the significant impact of medical tourism on health care systems—that of the United States, and those of the destination countries. The book highlights many contemporary problems, controversies, and implications of medical tourism both for individuals and health care systems, and presents thought-provoking potential solutions. The topic of medical tourism is also addressed against the backdrop of current healthcare reforms in the United States. Readers can reference a wealth of additional material on medical tourism, ranging from original documents to extensive directories of selected organizations and resources.

The growth of international travel for purposes of medical treatment has been accompanied by increased academic research and analysis. This Handbook explores the emergence of medical travel and patient mobility and the implications for patients and hea