Firms going the extra distance as medical tourism blossoms

Medical tourism, once the exclusive preserve of the rich, is growing and changing as hospitals and clinics offer far-flung patients advantages hard to come by at home - whether it be high-tech therapy, less-expensive care or alternative treatments.

In China, home to a growing number of traveling patients, more foreign medical tourists are seeking care either to save money or for such treatments as traditional Chinese medicine.

"In European countries such as Turkey and Cyprus, more than half of people are not covered by public insurance, so Chinese medical institutions have big opportunities," says Li Jingwen, general manager in Beijing for McBridge, a medical business consultant with offices in China and Germany.