Chasing the Cure Around the Globe: Medical Tourism for Cancer Care From Developing Countries

Al-Shamsi, Humaid O.; Al‐Hajeili, Marwan; Alrawi, Sadir

doi:10.1200/jgo.17.00087

Cited by 8 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…The authors highlight ethical, medical and communication issues that arise from this practice. 13,14 In our experience of Rb, families are often seeking treatment that is not available to them, at any cost, in their home country; or the government is sending them abroad because they have too few patients to justify a specialist centre. They are desperate to save the eye, to avoid and to collect money from any source to make this happen.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent work on the ethics of commercial medical tourism has noted that oncology generated £378 million in London in 2017 with most patients coming from the Middle East but also from Europe, China and the United States 12 . The United Arab Emirates were estimated to have spent U.S.$163 in 2013 on international cancer care 13 Patients coming from less developed countries are often sponsored by the government of their country of origin despite the fact that in some cases local treatment is available 14 . Review of the literature on this subject reveals more financial data than epidemiological or clinical since it is a large industry.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Review of the literature on this subject reveals more financial data than epidemiological or clinical since it is a large industry. The authors highlight ethical, medical and communication issues that arise from this practice 13,14 . In our experience of Rb, families are often seeking treatment that is not available to them, at any cost, in their home country; or the government is sending them abroad because they have too few patients to justify a specialist centre.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

International travel to obtain medical treatment for primary retinoblastoma: A global cohort study

Bowman

Foster

Stacey

et al. 2020

Intl Journal of Cancer

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Early diagnosis and treatment of retinoblastoma (Rb), the most common intraocular malignancy, can save both the child's life and vision. However, access to services and hence chances for survival and preserving the eye and its vision vary widely across the globe. Some families have to, or make a choice to, leave their home country to seek planned medical treatment abroad. We aimed to investigate how frequently this cross‐border travel occurs and the factors associated with it. A total of 278 Rb centres in 153 countries were recruited to participate in a global cross‐sectional analysis of newly diagnosed Rb patients in 2017. Number and proportions of children who travelled from their home country for treatment were analysed by country, continent, socioeconomic stratum and clinical and demographic features. The cohort included 4351 new patients of whom 223 [5.1%, 95% confidence interval 4.5‐5.8] were taken across country borders for planned medical treatment. Independently significant predictors of travelling across borders included: being from a country with a smaller population, being from a country classified as low socioeconomic status, having bilateral Rb and having intraocular disease without extraocular spread. The factors that determine international travel for Rb treatment are complex and deserve further investigation. We may need to rethink the way services are delivered in the light of the threat of severe curtailment of international travel from pandemics like corona virus disease 2019.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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International travel to obtain medical treatment for primary retinoblastoma: A global cohort study

Bowman

Foster

Stacey

et al. 2020

Intl Journal of Cancer

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“…Notably, the healthcare sector has witnessed a swift evolution over the past few decades, with the establishment of various state-of-the-art healthcare facilities with international collaboration. Nonetheless, a considerable number of patients continue to seek medical care abroad, especially for cancer treatment [ 6 ]. Around 8000 Emirati patients have received some form of medical care abroad in the last few years for malignant and non-malignant conditions, funded by the government [ 7 ].…”

Section: Opportunity Assessment and Addressing A Critical Unmet Needmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishment of the First Comprehensive Adult and Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Unit in the United Arab Emirates: Rising to the Challenge

Al-Shamsi

Abyad²,

Kaloyannidis

et al. 2022

Clinics and Practice

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Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is increasingly indicated for various malignant and non-malignant diseases. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), patients that could benefit from the procedure commonly need to seek medical care abroad in view of the lack of a comprehensive HSCT facility that could offer the full spectrum of interventions and monitoring protocols. This comes with considerable challenges related to coverage and logistics of travel. It also limits the continuity of clinical care, and presents inconvenience to patients who come from a different cultural background. In this article, we share our experiences and lessons learned during the establishment of the first comprehensive adult and pediatric HSCT unit in the UAE that is designed to cater for local citizens and residents, as well as neighboring countries facing similar availability challenges.

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“…Medical travel is the practice of traveling abroad to seek healthcare services [1]. This practice has been growing in developing countries and people travel seeking healthcare for different reasons [1].…”

Section: Background Medical Travel and Cancermentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges Associated with Medical Travel for Cancer Patients in the Arab World: A Systematic Review

Alnakhi

Iqbal²,

Nadabi

et al. 2022

Cancer in the Arab World

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Introduction: Each year, millions of patients around the world seek medical care abroad. Medical travel is becoming very common in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC) due to many motivational factors. It has been observed that the rate of cancer incidence is growing at an alarmingly high rate in Arab countries. In addition, as per the literature, cancer seems to be one of the top medical conditions for patients from the GCC to seek healthcare overseas. There are many factors associated with cancer patients seeking treatment overseas. However, unfortunately, there are very few studies that discuss the risks and challenges associated with the medical travel experience for those patients.Objective: We conducted a systematic review to summarize the evidence related to the complications and challenges associated with the medical travel experience for oncology patients in the Arab world.Materials and Methods: This systematic review was guided by PRISMA. PubMed was used as a search database by using a combination of medical travel, complications, and cancer keywords for publications which yielded 76 articles. Four coders independently determined eligibility based on PICOS and then extracted information from 14 articles. The resulting articles are based on three main categories, i.e., primary, and secondary data collection, and review articles.Results: Of the total 76 articles, only 14 were included because they met the criteria. 62 articles were excluded because of irrelevance of the title, abstract, and insufficient data. Although this systematic review aimed to look at the medical complications that may arise from the medical travel experience for oncology patients, other challenges were found. The challenges reported can be grouped into the following themes: (a) financial and economic aspects, (b) medical care aspects, (c) social and cultural aspects.Conclusion: Overall, more research studies are required in the Arab world for cancer patients treated overseas. The existence of such information around this topic will help in improving policies and strategies related to medical travel for the different stakeholders involved in the medical travel market. Moreover, these studies will not only aid in improving the quality of care for cancer patients who are engaging in medical travel, but they will also help in overcoming the challenges associated with medical travel experience for cancer patients at the different stages of the experience.

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Chasing the Cure Around the Globe: Medical Tourism for Cancer Care From Developing Countries

Cited by 8 publications

References 6 publications

International travel to obtain medical treatment for primary retinoblastoma: A global cohort study

International travel to obtain medical treatment for primary retinoblastoma: A global cohort study

Establishment of the First Comprehensive Adult and Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Unit in the United Arab Emirates: Rising to the Challenge

Challenges Associated with Medical Travel for Cancer Patients in the Arab World: A Systematic Review

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