New article: 'En route: Transport and Embodiment in International Medical Travel Journeys Between Indonesia and Malaysia'

Ormond, M. (2013) 'En route: Transport and Embodiment in International Medical Travel Journeys Between Indonesia and Malaysia', Mobilities. DOI:10.1080/17450101.2013.857812

My new article just published in Mobilities focuses on what happens in the space and time spent travelling between medical travellers' home countries and their medical destinations. Free access to this article is available for the first 50 users at http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/teK9an8Gbxguw7HCiqrH/full 

Abstract:
International medical travel is increasingly major business. Using Indonesian patient-consumers’ transport experiences in the pursuit of private medical care in Malaysia, this study explores how transport operators and infrastructure are responding and adjusting to the embodied specificities of the growing market’s access and travel needs. In offering faster and more frequent linkages, they have both expanded the physical and geo-political scope and increased the immediacy of care provision. This underscores the value of examining how the mobile spaces of transport common to international medical travel actively intersect with, blur and re-articulate diverse understandings of ill-health and impairment, care and subjectivity.

‘Medical Tourism Resiliency’ - a new research project led by the University of Malaya

‘Medical Tourism Resiliency’ is a study led by the Medical Tourism Research Group, Services Research and Innovation Centre, Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Malaysia. The overall project, which runs from October 2013 to 2015, has four components: Medical tourism, Islamic medical tourism, Medical tourism communication and Accessible tourism.

Research group: 

• Ghazali Musa (PI); 
• Medical tourism: Che Ruhana Isa, Kanagi Kanapathy, Mohd Zulkhairi Mustapha, Jacob John C. Chandy, Sedigheh Moghavammi, Wong Kee Mun and Thinaranjeney Thirumoorthi; 
• Islamic medical tourism - Suhaiza Hanim Dato Mohd Zailani,  Suhana Mohezar and Mohd Kahalili; 
• Medical tourism communication - Sheena Kaur a/p Jaswant Singh, Zuraidah Mohd Don, Surinderpal Kaur, Cecilia Cheong Yin Mei, Emily Lau Kui Ling, Ana Tominc and Wang Nan;  
• Accessible tourism: Azni Zarina Taha; 
• Meghann Ormond serves as International Research Advisor to the project's four sub-projects.

A website for the project is currently in the process of being set up. For further information, contact Prof Ghazali Musa (ghazalimz [at] um.edu.my).