Outsourced’ patients and their companions

Stories from forced medical travellers

Bibliographic Data

ID15540728
AuthorsA Whittaker (0000-0002-2616-9651, Monash University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume10
Issue4
Pages485-500
Publication date2015-02-03
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-1692 • E-ISSN: 1744-1706
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17441692.2014.998696
PMID25646738
OpenAlexW1978812122
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited34

In this paper, I describe the experience of 'outsourced' patients who are sent by their governments or insurers through contractual arrangements to a hospital in another country for treatment. I present case studies of nine patients and their accompanying families from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) who were interviewed in a Thai hospital as part of a broader study of medical travel from patients' perspectives. The health systems of the GCC suffer shortages in infrastructure, human resources and management skills, and as a consequence patients with particular needs, especially in neurology, orthopaedics and oncology may be sent overseas for treatment. Patients experience long stays overseas producing a considerable burden to their families supporting them. Such patients complicate notions of medical travel but their status also contrasts markedly from stereotypes held about Gulf patients within Thailand. Despite their appreciation of government sponsoring, for many patients the experience of care in Thailand underscored perceived inadequacies of their home health systems and governments. For some, outsourcing represented a betrayal of the obligations of their states to its citizens

Global Health and Surgery · Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism · History · Medicine · Travel-related health issues

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