Main description:

In Medical Tourism & Inequity in India, Kristen Smith explores Indian private hospitals and their role in the global healthcare service supply chain within various religious, social, cultural, historical, and economic contexts. Drawing on critical medical anthropology theories as well as health and human rights perspectives, Smith problematizes the assumed independence between the medical tourism industry, the commodification of the Indian healthcare system, and the local populations facing critical health issues, while highlighting the rapid transformation of healthcare services into merely another global commodity.

Contents:

Introduction: Tensions, Conflicts and Contradictions

Chapter 1: 'First World Treatment at Third World Prices'

Chapter 2: Medical Tourism and the Hyper-commodification of Healthcare

Chapter 3: The Intersections of Tourism and Health: The Marketization of Medical Tourism

Chapter 4: Places in Peril: Medical Tourism and the Transitioning of Trust

Chapter 5: Mobility, Identity and the Global Imaginary: The Worlding of the Healthcare Workforce

Chapter 6: The Structural Violence of Medical Tourism: Gated Enclaves and Health Exclusion

Conclusion