Foreign patients checking into The Medical City, a swish new hospital in Manila’s Ortigas district, should not find the place too unfamiliar. There is a Starbucks in the entrance for a start. Pizza Hut, Subway and Haagen-Dazs have outlets in the hospital’s foodcourt. And one of Manila’s better bookstores has a branch there stocked with the latest American and English titles.
In the city’s financial centre, a new wing to the city’s most famous hospital, Makati Medical Centre, is set to open in December. The extension, costing around 1 billion pesos (US$21.5 million), includes 15 state-of-the-art operating theatres imported from Germany. A few kilometres away in Fort Bonifacio, a former military camp being developed into a high-rise business centre, a shiny new private hospital is going up.
The Philippines is becoming better equipped to compete for a bigger slice of Southeast Asia’s growing market for medical travel and tourism: The practice of going abroad for cheaper treatments, often as part of a vacation package.
This country still trails far behind Thailand, which handled 1.2 million foreign-based patients in 2006, followed by 400,000 in Singapore and 300,000 in Malaysia, according to estimates by consultancy firm Deloitte. Still, there should be plenty of business to go round.
With medical costs soaring and health-care systems overstretched in many wealthy countries, industry experts predict a global boom in medical tourism. Upmarket hospitals in Asia, in particular, are expected to benefit.
Table - Big Surgeries: Comparative Costs in Asia and Southeast Asia
Procedure Costs - US India Thailand Singapore Malaysia Philippines
Heart Bypass: $130,000 $10,000 $11,000 $18,500 $9,000 $11,500
Hip Replacement: $43,000 $9,000 $12,000 $12,000 $10,000 $7,500
Knee Replacement: $40,000 $8,500 $10,00 $13,000 $8,000 $8,000
Source: Patient Beyond Borders by Josef Woodman from Ability Magazine and Philippine hospital estimates
Deloitte predicts the number of Americans alone travelling abroad for treatment will rise from 750,000 last year to three million next year and more than nine million by 2012 as a mass market develops.
Figures from hospitals and clinics in Manila show that 28,000 were treated last year; nearly half of them were from the United States and a quarter from Northeast Asia.
But that would rise several-fold if wellness treatments were included, according to other estimates.
The Philippines has a lot going for it as a destination for medical tourism–a point not lost on regional rivals.
Bangkok’s Bumrungrad International Hospital, an acknowledged star in the industry, took a stake and now runs the 230-bed Asian Hospital and Medical Centre in Manila’s Tony Alabang district.
Specialists in the best hospitals here are often US-trained, and the hospitality and warmth of Filipinos is a big plus.
“Our nurses are known for their compassion, and that is why they are in such high demand around the world,” said Makati Medical Centre’s acting president, Dr Manuel Fernandez.
But security concerns may deter some foreigners. Dr Anthony Calibo, who manages the government’s medical tourism programme launched two years ago, said: “One of the biggest challenges is to improve the image of the Philippines, especially the law-and-order situation.”
Dr Fernandez agrees: “National security must improve because we have got good hospitals and doctors here.”
Not so long ago, Filipinos who could afford five-star medical treatment generally went abroad. But large numbers of those living and working overseas–around eight million–have been going home for treatment for years.
Top-notch hospitals say they are not losing specialists in the brain drain of medical professionals, led by nurses, going overseas for better-paid jobs.
Specialists in these hospitals are said to earn 500,000 to 1 million pesos ($10,764 to $21,528) a month — much less than in rich countries, but a gargantuan amount in the low-cost Philippines.
“With that you can live like a king here”‘ said one plastic surgeon.
Source - The Straits Times from asianewsnet
