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Medical Tourism Booms In Ghana, Of All Places

Where: Ghana
November 3, 2009 at 8:59 AM | by amandak | 1 Comment

The west African country of Ghana hasn't been too high up on our list of wanna-visits, although its position improved a lot when we heard Ghana is the second highest producer of cocoa - maybe that chocolate bar we just downed came out of Ghana. Anyway, Ghana is actually going for a different target now: the health tourist.

It turns out that quite a lot of Ghanaians get medical degrees overseas, and one way of enticing them back to Ghana has been to open a bunch of top-class medical clinics. Sadly, of course, the average Ghanaian citizen can't afford to visit such a clinic—but a tourist can, and for a normal tourist, the prices are bargain basement while the care is excellent.

Cosmetic surgery is high on the list of tourist-wants, although simpler treatments like massages and detox are popular too. So far, the foreign visitors seem to be mostly the wealthy from other African countries, but when celebrities start getting boob-jobs in Ghana, you can say that you read it here first.

Related Stories:
· Ghana Targets Health Tourism Boom [BBC]
· Ghana Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: bagaball]

1 Comment

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  1. Amanda L Sage

    Jaunted Reader

    Where is your information coming from?

    Given that you've never been to Ghana, I feel confident in saying that your info is somewhat skewed. I lived in Ghana for over two years, and while Ghanaians do go to the West for medical training, they rarely come back working for high end clinics. In reality, there are very few of those clinics and they cater to the wealthier Ghanaians. Western expats have their own doctors through their embassies for the most part. While botox and plastic surgery, among other first world luxuries, are possibly available there, I've never heard of them advertised and Ghana certainly is by no means a destination for the Western elite looking for bargain basement medical care. The majority of Ghanaian doctors work with their own people in small clinics and hospitals across the country, accessible to most because Ghana has a national insurance scheme that provides better insurance for them than even America has. They are dedicated to helping their own kind. Medical tourism is flourishing in Ghana because the country is embracing modern medical care and is trying to become a beacon for Africa in terms of development. Before you start commenting so heavily on a country you've never been to, perhaps you should visit. High end medical care or not, it's still my favorite place on earth and full of the most wonderful people.
    November 4, 2009 at 9:50 AM
    #Permalink

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