Tourists flock to South Africa for ‘scalpel safaris’

SOUTH AFRICA’S medical tourism industry has skyrocketed with the number of overseas patients drawn by “scalpel safari” packages more than doubling in three years, an expert has said.

The booming sector now earns €28 million annually, said the Association for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons president, Martin Kelly, underlining that this was a fraction of the potential.

Industry estimates predict that about 20,000 health travellers will visit South Africa in 2006, up from around 8,000 in 2003.