Discovering Medical Tourism

Medical tourism is often depicted as an outsourcing process: you go elsewhere to get cheaper prices, as a shoe manufacturer can transfer its manufacturing activities from Italy to Bangladesh.

Still, this outsourcing process is extremely different as, conversely to a classical industry, you don t keep the same machine, namely the doctor. And beyond the differences there can be in terms of qualifications, there is a whole difference in terms of culture, of medical philosophy. Even though many of those doctors who perform in top tier hospital have been trained in the US, in Australia or in the UK, many Asian doctors are taking into accounts the many peculiarities of the Asian medical philosophy to better their practice. 

What are the main difference between the occidental and the oriental system: 

The goal VS the way to the goal: 

Occidental medicine aims at curing the patient while the asian medicine focuses on the healing process itself, on a day by day bettering of the health condition. This explains the type of therapies associated with traditional Chinese Medecine or Ayurveda that will last a few days or weeks, each day consisting of different healing techniques (mixing dietetics, massage, cleansing…) 

The microscope VS the “macroscope”: 

Occidental medicine focuses on analyzing details, isolating specific parts of the body and assessing it to a series of tests. Oriental medicine is more generalist and is keen on interpreting a series of simple clues easily noticeable to make a statement on the health condition of an individual: e.g. the tongue analysis in Ayurveda, the urine and fecal smell and colors… Hence there is a strong opposition as oriental medicine is empirical and asks for extremely trained and seasoned doctors while occidental medicine is experimental, therefore results can be easily confronted. Asian medicine is very subjective as it considers all individuals as unique (the doshas system for Ayurveda, the 5 elements system for TCM), while occidental medicine is  objective depicting all individuals as similar machines sharing the same patterns (organs, nerves, bones…). The experimental approach is herefore validated as results on a significant amount of individuals are enough to extend it to any potential patient. 

The passive patient VS the active patient: 

A doctor in Europe is often seen as a protector, a kind of father that will pay heed on your health and be there whenever there is a problem. The relation with him is instable (as it is with a father): sometimes customers are putting the blame on him, bare a grudge for a bad prescription, or see him as a superhero. All in all, the patient is always passive, receiving care as a kid gets his food, clothes and toys. The oriental system places the doctor not as a father but as a partner, an advisor. A doctor is here to guide the patient, to give him his own opinion on how he could improve his health but at the end of the day, the patient has the last say when it comes to opting for the best solution for him. In this way, Asian medicine asks for the patient to be aware of his options and to make himself the choice he feels is best for him. Hence, the patient can only blame himself as he was the one to decide on which option to take. 

The straight line VS the circle: 

As previously discussed, the Oriental medical tradition considers that any trauma or organ dysfunction can generate a series of dysfunction in the whole body: this is the five elements system whereby one imbalance of an element will create a series of reaction in the other elements. This is why the healing process is important as it aims at reinvigorating all the elements and not the one affected at first. The occidental system is more based on Search and Destroy: curing as fast as possible what poses a blatant problem, even if this can arouse numerous side effects. It s a go getter approach! The body is seen as a machine; when something is broken you fix it, while Oriental medicine views the body as a vitalistic and dynamic system: when something is broken it can create a chain reaction, therefore many other things to fix.

In my previous two articles, I have been talking about the possibility for Indian Hospital  to utilize Ayurveda in their healing and medical offers to gain a differentiating asset. Yet there are two hollistic medical system in Asia: ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine that I ll call TCM to save some time.

Traditional Medicine is an ancient method of health care that combines the use of medicinal herbs, acupuncture, food therapy, massage and therapeutic exercise… Even though the concept yin yang is becoming a cliche of the occidental popular culture, TCM is really based upon this system: the interrelationship between organs is exactly depicting the yin yang theory.

This system, called the Five Phase theory, is based on the  premise that each organ either nourishes or inhibits the proper functionning of another organ (the yin against the yang). TCM aims at stabilizing the whole system for it to operate. Let’s illustrate this idea with the actual five phases

So let’s understand the whole system: for instance, deficiency in EARTH (stomach) leads to deficiency in both METAL organs (large intestine and lungs). Defficiency in METAL generates an imbalance in WATER (kidney and bladder) and in turn affects WOOD that will then affect FIRE. Any imbalance breaks down the whole chain…

Diagnosis in TCM is all about understanding if there is an imbalance of one of these five elements. Hence no x rays, no blood tests, no endoscopy… TCM diagnosis consists of four non invasive methods:

• Inspection of the general demeanor, body. language and tongue

• Question the patient about medical history, diet, lifestyle

• Listen to the tone and strenght of the voice

• Smell any body excretion, the breath or the body odor

• Palpation of the pulse of radial arteries, the abdomen and the meridian

This is actually not a far cry from ayurvedic techniques (even for the gore part), yet, the main difference resides in the meridian analysis and the will to get rid of all symptoms, even the hidden ones (as all elements are affected by the imbalance of one of them). TCM techniques are pretty obscur as they are practiced among the Chinese community in low profile places (in Singapore it is often practiced in a tiny room inside an appartement of a 16 storey building bar…)

I definitely need some guidance to find my way in this TCM shop!!

Many medical spa has taken into account the TCM approach to appeal to international custmers, but some Asian hospitals are trying to fill up the void. The Raffles Hospital hospital has just opened Raffles Chinese Medicine a clinic that emphasize TCM as a complementary medicine for a series of condition most notably stroke recovery and hypertension. Yet, the mysticism of the discipline plus the proven efficiency of TCM should entice Asian Hospitals with an important Chinese Community as their potential customers to develop such services:

• To find best practices to deliver TCM

• To propose an end to end medical follow up (post op recovery through TCM)

• To be DIFFERENT