Australia considers medical tourism

9-May-2007

Australia could become the latest nation to make a serious investment in medical tourism.

A national lobby group is urging the federal government to help boost the country's medical tourism industry.

Some areas of Australia have already been getting in on the act, but there has so far been no attempt to take a coordinated national approach to medical tourism.

According to the Australian Tourism Export Council, such an approach would be beneficial to the economy.

Matt Hingerty, managing director of the council, said that the health sector could offer a range of treatments, from "simple spa treatments and health check-ups right through to surgical procedures".

"It is not widely known that there is a significant number of beds that are not used in the private health sector and we believe it's a no-brainer to marry people who want to travel the world for health treatments with a holiday in Australia," he told ABC News.

Australia may seem like a long way to go for medical treatment abroad, but combining healthcare with a holiday could prove much cheaper than doing the two separately.