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MEDICAL TOURISM
The Philippines has also jumped on the medical tourism bandwagon. It
has become so popular and successful in driving its medical tourism effort,
officially known as the Philippine Medical Tourism Program (PMPT),
that the country’s medical directors and government officials met in
California in May this year to discuss the health tourism industry and how
to effectively promote it.
Prominent hospitals like St. Luke’s Medical Center, Asian Hospital and
Medical Centre and Philippine Heart Centre etc. are active participants and
advocates for this program.
Jade del Mundo, Health Undersecretary of the Philippines said that a
total of 200,000 foreigners came to the Philippines for medical treatment
such as cosmetic surgery and eye or dental treatments. He said that the
bustling medical tourism program of the Philippines is expected to
contribute between US $300 million and US $400 million next year. The
Philippines health department, estimates as much as US $200 million has
been generated from medical tourism alone.
Medical Tourism Whetting Appetites
The spurt in the industry has created a vacuum that is quickly being filled
with organizations or professionals eager to capture a share of the pie.
Everyone from finance, insurance, travel, hospitality as well as health
professionals, who have seen the potential of this industry with its
growing audience, are looking for opportunities to fill in the gap in the
medical tourism puzzle.
Though many are eager to be the right pieces in the puzzle, many are still
struggling to get the right fit. There are a number of concerns and risk
factors for patients getting treatment much less seeking them abroad.
Some additional concerns for patients include a consistent quality of care,
lack of extensive dialog between the patient and the doctor, lack of
post-op follow up, cultural differences and difficulty in obtaining
sufficient insurance coverage.
Packages to India
At the first meeting of the Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG) of
the US-India Trade Policy Forum held in New York in
September, Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said that the US
was “keen to ask its insurance companies to work with
hospitals in India.” Evidently the US is pushing insurance
companies to come up with medical tourism packages with
Indian hospitals, some offering up to forty percent discounts on
annual premiums for those people who will go to India for
treatment. Others are adding tourism to their package offerings and
financial incentives for their family and friends to stay at nearby
hotels. Have the insurance companies really started taking this leap?
We could not confirm that any major medical carrier is doing this, but
we got the picture that it is not too far off.
8 DECEMBER 2007
As this industry is driven by patients or travelers who become patients,
it will be interesting to see whether the industry will meet their
expectations.
Medical Tourism – The Other Side of the Story
Much have been said and claimed about the surging medical tourism
industry and how its players are benefiting from it, however, not much is
known about the other side of the story – the patients themselves.
The Medical Tourist
There are many testimonies supporting the claim of quality medical care
and low cost expenses by those who have been there and done that,
however what about the potential medical tourists.
Where can they find quality information on the services provided abroad?
How do they know who’s good and who’s not. Although there are a few
indisputable medical centers who have already carved their name in the
industry, there are a great many more that are less well known. Should this
have a bearing on whether they are capable of providing quality healthcare?
Take for example India; there are thousands of hospitals sprawling across
the country. Some have already been identified as the place to go for
medical treatment, however, there are still many that are below the radar.
The richer hospitals are able to afford to provide patients with the luxury
of five star accommodation and service with equally advanced treatments
and services, but the hospitals that are less well funded are only able to
provide medical care minus the other peripherals. So how do the medical
tourists choose?
Medical Tourism Riding on the Waves
The term and concept of modern medical tourism may have been around
for the last decade but it is still in its infancy stage. There are many
challenges and obstacles ahead as with any burgeoning industry.
There are a few players who are already paving the way and leading
from the front but there is significantly more who are jumping onto the
bandwagon. It is crucial that in this race to be the best and offer the most,
the travelers/patients do not get ‘marginalized’ in the industry.
Continuous training for healthcare workers to ensure consistent quality
of care is essential as is consistency in the service that a patient receives
before and after deciding on their doctor or the medical centre where they
will be receiving treatment. Medical referrers and those providing
concierge services need to have a strict understanding of the quality of
medical care provided by those that they are affiliated with and ensure
that that information as well as the risks is clearly brought across to the
travelers.
Each player must play their part in ensuring that the medical tourism
industry will continue to grow and benefit those that are in it – both
patients and providers.
Both Authors work for Avail Corporation, which had put
on a conference called International Medical Travel Conference
(www.MedicalTravelconference.com), in November 2007 at
Manila, Philippines.