http://www.iht.com/ When Dr. Hassan al-Abdulla's wife needed treatment for chronic back and leg pain, the Qatari dermatologist researched the best procedure for her condition and mounted a global search for the best doctor to perform it.

His research led him to a clinic he had never heard of in a country he had never visited - Wooridul Spine Hospital in Seoul - and to a surgeon who had performed more than 500 operations of the type Abdulla wanted for his wife.

"People are willing to invest in health as much as you can imagine," said Abdulla, 55, referring to wealthy families in the oil-rich Gulf countries. "But they don't know where to go."

"Everybody is looking abroad," he added, seated at the bedside of his wife, Fatima, 50, who was convalescing from her surgery.

People like the Abdullas, who want medical services that are better, cheaper or just more quickly available than at home, are crossing borders in rising numbers. They are agents of a global free trade in health care, once considered the most local of services, that is fueling the growth of medical tourism.

On Jeju, South Korea's leading resort island, the central government is spending 315 billion won, or $232 million, on "Health Care Town," a 150-hectare, or 370-acre, complex of medical clinics and hotel-apartments where, for example, a visitor from China could have a medical checkup and his wife could have knee surgery while their children cavort on the beach.

Wooridul Spine Hospital plans to build a hospital branch, hotel-apartments, a concert hall and an art museum on the island as part of its medical tourism offerings. It has already built an 18-hole golf course there.

"We believe this is a major future industry for our island," said Kim Kyung Taeg, head of the government-run Jeju Development Center. "The town will specialize in medical checkups, long-term convalescence and procedures Korean doctors do well and cheaply, such as plastic surgery and dentistry."

The South Korean government has revised immigration rules to allow foreign patients and their families to stay up to four years on the island without a visa.

For Hassan and Fatima Abdulla, the trip has been one seamless surgery/tourism package. When they arrived in Seoul in October, a car from Wooridul and an English-speaking nurse were waiting for them at the airport. Abdulla found his wife's hospital room - furnished with a television, broadband Internet access, private bathroom, sofas and an extra bed - so comfortable that he decided to stay with her rather than go to a hotel.

The day she arrived, Fatima Abdulla had all her pre-surgical tests. The next day, she was on an operating table.

"I feel very good," she said five days after her surgery. "I can walk and shop now."

Hassan Abdulla said he and his wife were now eager to check out the stores and museums in Seoul, "probably spending more on shopping than in the medical center."

Patients like Fatima Abdulla bring a cash bonanza for Asian hospitals, as well as fresh tourism revenues for the general economy.