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Health Check: 27/07/2009

27/07/2009

BBC World Service - Health Check, 27/07/2009

The writer, Timothy O'Grady examines the benefits and pitfalls of medical tourism.

The American writer, Timothy O'Grady, who recently underwent surgery in Poland examines the controversies around the rise of medical tourism, regularly drawing in thousands of patients each year.

Six months on from successful surgery on his spine in Poland, the American author Timothy O'Grady, examines the growth in the popularity of medical tourism. 

Every year, thousands of patients roam the planet in search of medical care which is either unaffordable or unavailable back home. 

Medical tourism has become a multi-billion dollar industry, involving governments, travel agencies, investment banks, patients and medical personnel all over the world. Fifty countries now name medical tourism as one of their national industries. 

The system which ancient Greeks initiated when they travelled to the Saronic Gulf to be treated by the god Asklepios, has been taken up with great enthusiasm in the modern world. 

Timothy O'Grady talks to patients, doctors and health brokers about its inexorable rise.

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