Ethics and Sustainability of Medical Tourism in the Czech Republic

Motivation:Medical tourism is a comprehensive industry that comprises of two major contributors to the national economy, the health and tourism sector. Correct management of medical tourism by applying sustainability strategies to existing practices is beneficial to sustain its strong potential and ensure its prosperity in the long run.Problem statement:This paper aims to provide a holistic analysis of the medical tourism industry in the Czech Republic in terms of sustainability; the market is tested in order to evaluate the performance of the industry and provide enhancement suggestions to identified drawbacks.Approach:The chosen research method is a qualitative market research design, a holistic analysis of the sustainability performance of the medical tourism industry; the literature review is based on existing scientific literature; the research data consists of in-depth interviews and secondary data documentary analysis.Results:The outcomes of the analysis indicate that various organizational and strategic practices of medical tourism are unsustainable and require respective alterations on the economic, social, and environmental level of the triple bottom line of sustainability.Conclusions:The holistic approach maps and highlights the sustainability character of the entire medical tourism industry, however, the results are potentially generalizable; the strategies to obtain sustainability can be applied to enhance the medical tourism industry, but also the Czech health care system and general employment quality of different sectors in the Czech Republic.