Medical tourism and policy implications for health systems: a conceptual framework from a comparative study of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia

Table 1 Health systems in comparison [3]

Country	Thailand	Malaysia	Singapore
Organizational structure	Pockets of excellence in some private Bangkok hospitals	Growing private health sector with movement of qualified workforce	Balanced public-private mix, corporatized public sector
National strategy	Regional health hub	Industrial strategy to develop tourism	Economic growth strategy to develop biomedical industries
	Extensive tourism infrastructure		Regional service hub
			Medical R&D support
Policy impact	Issues of growing inequity and urban-rural divide	Public-private divide	Narrow income gaps of public and private sectors
		Racial inequities between public and private sectors

ISSN: 1744-8603