Determinants of the Competitiveness of the South African Medical
Date
2011-04-18
Authors
Bomela, Loyiso Campbell
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Abstract
The study aimed to assess the current status of the South African medical tourism industry
in relation to international standards and to evaluate the factors required for South Africa to
be competitive in the global medical tourism industry.
The study attempted to assess these issues by engaging the key and relevant stakeholders in
the industry. This entailed ascertaining the perceptions of medical tourism tour operators,
South African private hospitals and their affiliates, as well as government in the form of the
Department of Tourism and the Department of Health. Personal interviews were conducted
and analysed qualitatively.
The study is limited to only the surgical component of the medical tourism industry. Thus
the contribution of spas and other non‐surgical aspects of medical tourism are not taken
into account. Additionally, this work does not consider the “accidental” medical tourist. The
study deals with medical tourists who travel to a country specifically for a surgical
procedure.
The findings identified that tour operators provide a value‐added service through the
integration of hospitals, hotels and tourism. Additionally, the quality of services in the South
African medical tourism industry was discovered to be equivalent to international
standards. The growth of medical tourism was identified as being beneficial to the public
sector. Additionally, private hospital infrastructure and capacity was found to be able to
cater for such growth. However, government was acknowledged as not doing enough to
facilitate and support the growth of the industry.
Through the analysis it can be concluded that the industry is quite fragmented, with a lack
of inter‐sectoral coordination between the relevant stakeholders. Issues pertaining to the
initiation of dialogue within all sectors in the value chain and the creation of a platform for
industry stakeholders to collaborate in the interests of the industry need to be addressed
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Tourism, Medical tourism