Books on international medical travel

• C. Michael Hall (ed.) (2012, forthcoming) Medical Tourism: The Ethics, Regulation, and Marketing of Health Mobility (Routledge).
• Todd, M.K. (2011) Handbook of Medical Tourism Development (Routledge – Productivity Press)
• Todd, M.K. (2011) Medical Tourism Facilitator’s Handbook (Routledge – Productivity Press)
• John Connell (2011) Medical Tourism (CABI) - Abstract: 'Tourism has long been associated with improved health, resulting in a boom of spas, yoga and rejuvenation treatments. Medical tourism itself is a more recent example of niche tourism, with increasing numbers of people travelling abroad in search of cosmetic enhancement and solutions to various serious medical conditions often by surgery. Medical Tourism looks at the background and rise of health tourism, new emerging facets of the sector, and examines how medical tourism benefits local health care providers, economies and the tourism industry as a whole. It offers a unique overview of an emerging component of the tourist industry and a distinct and controversial element of health provision'.
• Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds.) (2011) Real Tourism: Representation, Practice and the Material in Contemporary Travel (Routledge) - This edited collection will include a chapter by Meghann Ormond entitled, 'Medical tourists, medical refugees: Responding to the pursuit of cross-border healthcare in Malaysia'.
• Connell, J. (ed.) (2010) Migration and the Globalisation of Health Care (Edward Elgar) - Abstract: 'The international migration of health workers has been described by Nelson Mandela as the ‘poaching’ of desperately needed skills from under-privileged regions. This book examines the controversial recent history of skilled migration, and explores the economic and cultural rationale behind this rise of a complex global market in qualified migrants and its multifaceted outcomes'.
• Reisman, D.A. (2010) Health Tourism: Social Welfare Through International Trade (Edward Elgar)
• Smith, M. and Puczko, L. (2009) Health and Wellness Tourism (Butterworth Heinemann) - This book lays out the history and definitions relative to this broadly defined field as well as its management and marketing peculiarities. It also includes a range of case studies contributed by several authors. It is, however, mostly geared towards wellness (e.g. spa, alternative therapies, etc) tourism. There is one medical tourism study, by B. George, looking at Apollo Hospitals in India.
• Chee H.L. and Barraclough, S. (eds.) (2009) Health Care in Malaysia: The Dynamics of Provision, Financing and Access (Routledge – Malaysian Studies Series) - This book contains information about medical tourism to Malaysia and its broader relationship to the national health system.
• Bookman, M. and Bookman, K. (2007) Medical Tourism in Developing Countries (Palgrave MacMillan) - This is the first academic book published on medical travel. It takes a political economy perspective on the real and potential advantages and disadvantages for developing countries engaged in promoting medical tourism. Abstract: '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'.

Personal narratives

• Maggi Ann Grace (2007) State of the Heart - This personal narrative tells of the medical travel experience of Grace's partner, Howard Stabb, who made headlines in the US when he went to India for heart surgery. He later testified at the US Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearings on 27 June 2006 on the benefits of medical travel for uninsured Americans. (See the webcast)

Fiction

• Robin Cook (2008) Foreign Body - This is a novel about a young Hispanic American doctor whose grandmother, unable to pay for a necessary operation in the US, goes to an Indian hospital and dies under mysterious conditions. There were concerns among industry stakeholders that the novel would have negative effects on the burgeoning industry. Interestingly enough, Cook joined up with Michael Eisner to adapt Foreign Body to WebTV, and 50 2-minute episodes are now available online. (See the episodes for free on iTunes)