大象传媒

Six months on from successful surgery on his spine in Poland, the American author Timothy O'Grady, examines the growth in the popularity of medical tourism.

Every year, thousands of patients roam the planet in search of medical care which is either unaffordable or unavailable back home.

Medical tourism has become a multi-billion dollar industry, involving governments, travel agencies, investment banks, patients and medical personnel all over the world. Fifty countries now name medical tourism as one of their national industries.

The system which ancient Greeks initiated when they travelled to the Saronic Gulf to be treated by the god Asklepios, has been taken up with great enthusiasm in the modern world.

Timothy O'Grady talks to patients, doctors and health brokers about its inexorable rise.