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Canadian Medical Travel Companies and the Globalisation of Health Care

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Medical Tourism and Transnational Health Care
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Abstract

The key findings of this chapter are as follows:

  • Though residents of Canada have access to medically necessary, publicly funded treatment available through provincial health care systems, some Canadians travel abroad and receive care at international medical facilities.

  • Responding to increased public interest in medical travel and playing an important role in publicising global market for health services, many Canadian companies market transnational medical travel.

  • Canadian medical travel companies advertise diagnostic imaging, orthopaedic surgery, bariatric surgery, cosmetic surgery, ophthalmologic surgery, in vitro fertilisation, dental care and other procedures.

  • Some Canadian medical travel companies promote stem cell injections, ‘Liberation therapy’ for multiple sclerosis (MS), commercial surrogacy and additional interventions that are either illegal in Canada or clinically unproven and unavailable at Canadian hospitals and clinics.

  • This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of Canada’s medical travel industry.

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© 2013 Leigh Turner

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Turner, L. (2013). Canadian Medical Travel Companies and the Globalisation of Health Care. In: Botterill, D., Pennings, G., Mainil, T. (eds) Medical Tourism and Transnational Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137338495_10

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