Solomon Harris
Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Anthropol Med. 2011 Apr;18(1):105-18. doi: 10.1080/13648470.2010.525878.
This paper examines the grid of sentiment that structures medical travel to India. In contrast to studies that render emotion as ancillary, the paper argues that affect is fundamental to medical travel's ability to ease the linked somatic, emotional, financial, and political injuries of being ill 'back home'. The ethnographic approach follows the scenes of medical travel within the Indian corporate hospital room, based on observations and interviews among foreign patients, caregivers, and hospital staff in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore. Foreign patients conveyed diverse sentiments about their journey to India ranging from betrayal to gratitude, and their expressions of risk, healthcare costs, and cultural difference help sustain India's popularity as a medical travel destination. However, although the affective dimensions of medical travel promise a remedy for foreign patients, they also reveal the fault lines of market medicine in India.
本文考察了构建前往印度就医之旅的情感脉络。与那些将情感视为附属因素的研究不同，本文认为情感对于就医之旅缓解“在国内”患病所带来的身体、情感、经济和政治创伤的能力至关重要。人种志方法基于在孟买、新德里、金奈和班加罗尔对外国患者、护理人员及医院工作人员的观察和访谈，追踪了印度企业医院病房内的就医场景。外国患者对其印度之行表达了从背叛到感激等多样的情感，他们对风险、医疗费用和文化差异的表述有助于维持印度作为医疗旅游目的地的受欢迎程度。然而，尽管就医之旅的情感维度为外国患者带来了治愈的希望，但它们也揭示了印度市场医疗的缺陷。
