Tuesday, February 19, 2008 DOT to promote wellness sector
TO LURE high-spending tourists to the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) vowed it will intensify its marketing promotions on the country’s wellness sector, particularly on medical tourism.
“It will be one of our high-valued packages,” said Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano.
The wellness industry is composed of the spa business, medical tourism including recuperative services and cosmetic surgery, and spiritual healing.
In an interview, Durano said the country is fast becoming a destination for foreign patients who are undergoing treatments like medical, dental, and surgical, as well as recuperative services because of the huge savings foreign patients get from offshore medical services.
Offshore medical procedures can be performed as little as one tenth the cost of what would normally be charged in the United States.
According to the Philippine medical tourism website, a knee replacement surgery in a high-tech hospital in the Philippines performed by Western trained surgeons’ costs around $6,000, while in the US, it may run up to $50,000.
Heart bypass surgery in Asia costs around $10,000 as compared to $60,000 to $80,000 in the US. In addition, gastric bypass surgery in the US can cost $10,000 to $20,000. Overseas it can be done for well under $5,000.
This is why, Durano said, countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, are beefing up efforts to attract the growing number of medical tourists.
Citing Department of Health (DOH) data, he said medical tourism has contributed $400 million to the Philippine economy.
Already, Durano said both the DOT and the DOH are creating a task force to look into ways of developing the Philippines wellness sector and provide market intelligence in determining which countries are potential target markets.
“We have to first ensure the quality of our hospitals,” he said.
Durano mentioned a government-to-government program where Philippine hospitals become accredited medical institutions with their foreign counterparts.
At present, he said residents in the Micronesian Islands are now visiting Philippine hospitals for executive check-ups.
Durano also said that in 2006, the government assisted the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital in closing a $40 million contract with the Premier Service Medical Aid Society of Zimbabwe, where the latter started sending their patients to the UST Hospital.
Durano said DOT and DOH recognized the world-class medical services ffered by some Cebu-based hospitals and is optimistic private-public partnerships between the government and local hospitals here are already in the pipeline to speed up Cebu’s medical tourism sector.
In a related development, stakeholders in Cebu’s health and wellness sector earlier agreed to establish a health and wellness coalition to promote growth in the industry.
This will be initiated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) together DOT, DOH, and Department of Foreign Affairs.
DTI Provincial Director Nelia Navarro said issues, like certification and licensing of spa operators, effective measures to promote Cebu as a medical tourism destination, and the need to address global competition will be ironed out once the coalition is established. (MMM)
