Overseas Filipinos become key target for Philippine medical tourism

Filipinos living abroad are a huge market for medical tourism, says Joyce Socao-Alumno of HealthCore Philippines. She says that in the USA there are 5 million Filipinos holding American passports who could kick start the local medical tourism industry if it can convince them to ‘go home’ for medical treatment, cosmetic surgery and other wellness needs, “We have a big market from among Filipinos based abroad. It is better for Filipinos abroad to get healthcare procedures in the Philippines because they have relatives here and they are familiar with the language.”

Alumno argues that the industry has virtually ignored this key market, while becoming left behind by neighboring countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and India. In 2010 the country had an estimated 100,000 of the 3.5 million medical travelers in Southeast Asia. Despite much promotion, the 100,000 figure has stayed static since 2008, and some local tourism organizations argue that the real figure is at best 70,000. Alumno adds that to effectively promote Philippine medical tourism, several key issues need to be addressed, including the image of the country as having poor security, poverty and lacking in quality facilities and/or doctors. Her solution is to benchmark standards for doctors and healthcare facilities with international level accreditation to help attract foreign medical travelers. HealthCore is in the accreditation business.

Health investors feel that sooner or later, medical tourism in the Philippines will produce income and profit. And if medical tourism is only small, then profit can be made from local business.

Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investment continues to buy or acquire shares in hospitals in the Philippines. In 2007 Metro Pacific bought a minority stake in Makati Medical Center as the troubled hospital had long term potential. In 2008 Metro took over the management of Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) in San Juan, to use subsidiary Medical Doctors Inc, originally formed to manage Makati Medical Center. The group then bought a minority stake in Davao Doctors Hospital, acquired Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City and took over the management contract of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Manila, which includes a commitment to spend heavily on facilities and equipment for the hospital over the next five years. All acquisitions are or have been upgraded and refurbished to improve hospital operating standards, as medical tourists will not come to substandard hospitals

St. Luke’s Medical Centre recently opened in Global City, Taguig. The new hospital offers a wide range of medical services covering cardiovascular medicine, ophthalmology, cancer, neurology and neurosurgery, and treatments for liver and digestive diseases. It gets international patients from the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It has an international patient care centre providing extra services for the medical tourist such as travel planning and airport pickup.

Hospital groups in other provinces, notably Cebu, have been busy upgrading their facilities and expanding their services. The Philippines is starting to show potential due to investments in new and existing healthcare facilities. Returning Filipino doctors and nurses who have trained and worked abroad bring with them valuable insights that help medical tourism. But although the country has low costs compared to the USA and Europe, it is not always cheaper than other competitors such as Malaysia and Korea, who have a better national approach to marketing medical tourism.

Source - imtj