Factors Affecting Outbound Medical Tourism: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

Medical tourism, a form of tourism activity for the patients to cross the borders for medical care, has been growing over the past decades. Health care services are not client focused and need based in Bangladesh. On the other hand, health care services are expansive to the majority of the people. Therefore, thousands of patients, irrespective of their socioeconomic condition, travel to India, Thailand and Singapore for perceivably higher quality of medical care. Existing literature on medical tourism indicates that there is a lack of comprehensive study that provides the information regarding outbound medical tourists in developing country like Bangladesh. In particular, very little is known about the factors that influence outbound medical tourism and the satisfaction level of outbound medical tourists. To fill this gap, this study has been undertaken. This study has the following objectives: (1) to identify the factors that influence outbound medical tourism and (2) to measure the satisfaction level of outbound medical tourists. To achieve the objectives of the study, data were collected from 300 patients who travelled India, Singapore or Thailand for medical treatment purpose and 60 Bangladeshi doctors through semi-structured questionnaire. Non-probability, such as convenience and snowball, sampling methods were used to select the respondents. For analyzing the data different statistical tools and methods were used from STATA software 12.0 versions and SPSS software 20.0 version. The study has employed descriptive statistic, factor analysis, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Spearman’s rank correlation and Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis. Descriptive statistics has been used to identify most influential pre-travel factors related to outbound medical tourism. Moreover, Factor analysis has been used to identify most important post-travel factors related to outbound medical patients’ satisfaction, thereafter ordinal logistic regression analysis is performed to investigate the influence of independent variables (quality of medical care, Treatment facilities, cost of medical care, environmental aspects, service of medical staff’, tourism facilities and availability of doctor/ medical staff) of patients on the dependent variable (satisfaction level of outbound medical tourists). The findings indicated that the nine pre-travel factors influenced outbound medical tourism. Apart from these all post- travel factors related to medical service in abroad are significantly influenced outbound medical tourism. Quality of medical care is the most influential factor followed by Treatment facilities and Cost of medical care. Moreover, the overall satisfaction level of patients towards medical services in abroad is satisfactory. The main reasons as found are: Experienced, Helpful, reliable and sincere doctors, fast and accurate diagnosis and world standard medical facilities, and affordable treatment cost. On the other hand, the overall satisfaction level of patients towards medical services in Bangladesh is dissatisfactory. The main reasons as found are: insufficient time paid by the doctors to their patients, unnecessary test and poor diagnosis, high treatment cost.

The following recommendations have been put forwarded, firstly, to initiate continuous professional training and evaluation program for doctors and nurses. Secondly, international standard hospital and diagnostic centers should be arranged so that local people can receive better medical care in the country. At the same time affordable medical care in-country hospital should ensure. , hospitals must ensure hygiene, cleanliness and adapt best practices of health to support patients. This in turn would help to reduce outbound medical tourism from Bangladesh significantly, which will save heard earned foreign currency significantly for the country.