WEALTH

FOCUS
PATIENTS
WITHOUT
BORDERS
Medical tourism offers tremendous savings
to insurers and patients, but the business is
falling well short of great expectations
New nose? Heart bypass?
Relax by the pool?
Medical tourism is on
the rise in Asia
The Australian woman in the lobby bar of Bangkok’s
five-star Hotel Muse is upfront about her reasons
for visiting. “We’re here for the shopping,” she
says, over her second happy hour cocktail. “For shopping
and dental work.”
Her 28-year-old daughter has a condition that is turning
her teeth translucent and brittle. Corrective work in
Brisbane would cost AUD10,000 ($7,200). That amount, she
figured, could be better spent on two business class tickets
to Bangkok and five days’ accommodation, plus dental
treatment in a nearby clinic that is on a par with any back
home. “We’ll still have change left over,” she says with a
laugh, “and that may include the shopping.”
This is international medical tourism in a snapshot.
The business is driven by a combination of rising healthcare
costs in developed countries, cheap flights and crossborder
medical training. Over the past two decades,
Thailand has become a thriving destination for procedures
ranging from tummy tucks to heart bypasses and gender
reassignments, with foreign visitors attracted by the high
standard of the private healthcare industry, easy visa entry
and affordable prices.
Curtis Schroeder, former CEO of Bumrungrad
International, the largest private hospital in Southeast
Asia, believes the industry is entering a new phase. “The
market has matured, the carnival barkers are gone and the
business has entered round two,” he says in the office
Allianz • 23