20th IFMSA Africa Regional Meeting

The 20th ARM will run under the theme, “Unleashing the potential of Medical Tourism in Africa.” Medical Tourism, defined as the act of travelling to another country to receive medical care carries immense benefits whose potential we have not yet exploited in Africa. Reasons why people travel to different countries seeking medical care are many and a few can be summarised as, Affordable, Accessible, Available, Acceptable, and Additional.

Affordable is probably the major reason and this is particularly true for patients from the well-off, developed countries, where private health care is expensive, and health insurance is not equitably distributed.

Available is often because the medical treatment they need is not available in their local areas.

Accessible applies more particularly to patients from countries where the waiting list is long, leading to delays in healthcare provisions ultimately worsening the prognosis.

Acceptable applies to services, which may be affordable, available, and accessible, but they are not acceptable in the patient’s own country for religious, political reasons or other social reasons.

Additional refers to the availability of better care, perhaps better technology, or a better specialist, or simply better service and personalised care abroad compared to care in the home country. In the past, medical tourism usually referred to those who travelled from less-developed countries to major medical centres in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable at home. Africa is yet to capitalise on the vast opportunities that are in the field of medical tourism, and as a consequence, Africa is yet to exploit the benefits.