mineral waters, treating all kinds of diseases. But it was the stateof-the-art travel and communication facilities that have
transformed such destinations as hot spots of medical tourism.
As such, today’s medical tourism is different from the traditional
model of international medical travel where patients generally
journey from less developed nations to major medical centres in
highly developed countries for medical treatment that is
unavailable in their own communities. Today’s Medical tourism
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can be broadly defined as provision of ‘cost effective’ private
medical care in collaboration with the tourism industry for
patients needing surgical and other forms of specialized
treatment. This process is being facilitated by the corporate sector
involved in medical care as well as the tourism industry - both
private and public. Medical or Health tourism has become a
common form of vacationing and covers a broad spectrum of
medical services. It mixes leisure, fun and relaxation together.