Why and How I got into Health Tourism

Transforming and Repurposing Health Tourism

...from Conventional to Contemporary - and from a "need" to a "want"

Peter H. Diamandis (of XPRIZE fame) in one of his LinkedIn posts made the observation: successful people tend to focus their brain power on one or two really big problems at a time, while others split their energy between dozens of small problems.

Although I do not consider myself to be a successful person, I do aim to succeed by focusing on one big problem – that of the shortcomings associated with Conventional Health Tourism – and how to transform and repurpose it.

No doubt, some thought it was a crazy idea.

Peter’s LinkedIn profile background picture carries the mantra: the day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.

the Why

…after deciding I had done enough (in the way of innovating) in Pediatric Surgery

After deciding I had done enough (in the way of innovating) in Pediatric Surgery (a synopsis of which one can read in my bios) – I wanted out – but still wanted to remain involved in the Health Sector – doing something challenging, which provided the opportunity to innovate – and which could be done from anywhere.

It did not take me long to decide that the “something challenging, which provided the opportunity to innovate” was Health Tourism.

I got my start when Hadi Malaeb, another innovator (to whom I owe a great deal of thanks), invited and hosted me to speak at the first World Health Tourism Congress (WHTC - Wiesbaden, Germany, 2006).

Since then, I was an invited and hosted speaker at all the subsequent WHTC events.

From that start in Wiesbaden, and for a period of ten years (or so) I had the privilege of being an invited and hosted speaker at 70 conferences in 22 countries.

a short note on - and tribute to - Hadi Malaeb

The reader will notice that the Book "Internet Century Health Tourism" is dedicated to Hadi Malaeb – and that Hadi receives prominent mention in the Acknowledgements.

When I think of Hadi, what comes to mind is the maxim “you can’t keep a good man down”.

My assessment of Hadi is that of a man with a strong will and determination, able to overcome obstacles and challenges and go on to do great things.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb would describe him as Antifragile (Nassim wrote the book “Antifrgile”).

Antifragility is a property of increasing the capability to thrive as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, noise, mistakes, faults, attacks, or failures.

At the time of writing, Hadi heads the Dubai-based Agora Group (which he co-founded in 2018).

The Group stages the Global Blockchain Congress and the Healthcare Disrupters Congress.

In 2018 the Group staged The International Crypto Currencies Investment Congress (in Dubai).

BTW, Hadi Malaeb is on LinkedIn (https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/hadi-malaeb-abb1408/).

my Agenda and Role in Health Tourism

…transform Health Tourism from Conventional to Contemporary – acting as strategist, logician and change agent – and planner

During my intimate engagement in and involvement with Health Tourism, I realized that the “concept & practice and activity” was a “Complex System” (i.e., one composed of many diverse and autonomous - but interrelated and interdependent - components or parts - linked through many interconnections).

But as things stood, what was regarded as Health Tourism, at the time (which I refer to as Conventional Health Tourism), was a fragmented and inefficient entity.

The reason for this fragmentation and inefficiency is explained by the fact that Conventional Health Tourism came about haphazardly and anarchically.

By “came about haphazardly and anarchically” I mean “it just happened” (spontaneously) – i.e., Conventional Health Tourism was not created by design (according to a plan).

Consequently, Conventional Health Tourism is associated with shortcomings, in the form of fallacies, deficiencies and failings.

And this explains the basic reason Conventional Health Tourism is not recognized as an Economic Sector.

The realization that Conventional Health Tourism was an “Inefficient System”, associated with shortcomings, motivated me to strive to fully-understand how it then, worked and how to make it work better – in order to maximize its value.

In other words, I wanted to elevate the “Complex System” to the status of a “Wise System” – through a process of Transformation.

Wise System:
·?a system based on knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight
        

Transformation – a.k.a. “creating change”:

·?a complete change in the appearance or character of something or someone, especially so that thing or person is improved  Cambridge Dictionary)


In simple terms, “transformation” means a change for the better.

Things which are transformed are improved.
        

The self-interest which lay behind this “agenda” is very clear: how, I too, could capitalize on the benefits associated with the transformation of Health Tourism from Conventional to Contemporary.

As such, I see my role as that of strategist, logician and change agent – but also as the Sector Planner.

starting with a Clean Slate

…unencumbered by mistakes, regrets, or obligations from the past

I embarked on the undertaking to transform Health Tourism from Conventional to Contemporary (a.k.a. Internet Century Health Tourism - ICHT) having decided to start with a clean slate (meaning, a fresh beginning, especially one unencumbered by mistakes, regrets, or obligations from the past).

This also meant addressing a new cohort of Stakeholders.

Having said this, I also did not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" is an idiomatic expression for an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, or in other words, rejecting the favorable along with the unfavorable (Wikipedia).
        

And the “baby” includes the established leaders tasked with designing, creating – or transforming – and then operating.

Those tasked with creating – or transforming – and then operating what are now known as arcHTos Derivatives (Sector-specific Legal Entities) – are regarded as the “leadership” (and referred to as the “vital few” – or the “Decision-Makers and Purse-String-Holders”).

The reason I am stating this is because the “vital few” is the audience addressed by the “Internet Century Health Tourism” eBook (the Management Textbook on the subject).

By the way, what I write are usually “long reads” – but:

• “not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers” (Harry S. Truman)
• “leaders with good judgment tend to be good listeners and readers” (Sir Andrew Likierman – former Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School)
• “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to lead” (Phil Schlechty - who died in 2016 - was the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Schlechty Center for Leadership in School Reform in Louisville, Ky, USA)

Whilst on the subject of leadership and leaders, it needs to be pointed out that “Leadership” is a dedicated “Section” in the Book.

beginning by declaring a Moratorium and going on a Sabbatical

…in order to focus, undisturbed and undistracted, on the Thesis

Almost from the beginning (and for reasons explained in “addressing the Shortcomings associated with Conventional Health Tourism”), I toyed with the idea of sitting down to focus (undisturbed and undistracted) on transforming Health Tourism (in a process best-described as an exercise in Slow Architecture).

What stood in the way – and thwarted my plans of escape - were:

• the constant flurry associated with having to prepare for and travel to participate in conferences
• the interjections of Thought Polluters (who disrupt and derail your thinking process, with a lot of noise that cancels out the signal and frustrates your determination to have a “blue sky” mind)

In my pursuit of finding a way to be able to focus, undisturbed and undistracted, on the Internet Century Health Tourism “thesis”, without planning to, I found myself following in the footsteps of Nassim Nicholas Taleb (NNT).

Thesis:

·?the most important or foundational idea of an argument (vocabulary.com)

·?an idea or theory that is expressed as a statement and is discussed in a logical way (Collins English Dictionary)

·?the main idea, opinion, or theory of a speaker or writer, who then attempts to prove it (Cambridge Dictionary)

·?an idea, opinion, or theory that is used to explain something (macmillan dictionary)
        

As you can read below, NNT, likewise, wanted to be free of distractions in order to, in his case, slowly distill his “single idea” (an “entire system of thought based on his Black Swan Idea”).

In my case, the escape hatch involved declaring a Moratorium on participating in conferences and going on a Sabbatical (which I did, starting towards the end of 2018).

Escape Hatch: a way of getting out of a difficult or unwanted situation (Cambridge Dictionary)
        

Nassim Nicholas Taleb on his “escape hatch” - which gave him the freedom to focus on distilling his “single idea”

In the chapter titled “The Apprenticeship of an Empirical Skeptic” of his book The Black Swan, we read:

So, I stayed in the quant and trading business (I’m still there), but organized myself to do minimal but intense (and entertaining) work, focus only on the most technical aspects, never attend business “meetings”, avoid the company of “achievers” and people in suits (who don’t read books), and take a sabbatical year for every three on average to fill up gaps in my scientific and philosophical culture. To slowly distill my single idea, I wanted to become a flaneur, a professional meditator, sit in cafés, lounge, unglued to desks and organizational structures, sleep as long as I needed, read voraciously, and not owe any explanation to anybody. I wanted to be left alone in order to build, small steps at a time, an entire system of thought based on my Black Swan Idea.