RP medtourism anchors hopes on Global Pinoys

CEBU, Philippines - The future of medical tourism in the Philippines will not solely depend on the volume of foreign clients coming to the country to seek medical help, but its growth is largely reliant on the Filipinos working abroad.

“Unlike other countries, the Philippines has its natural market. It is not relying on foreign patients, because the source of constant and sustainable growth for the industry is the OFWs, or the Filipinos residing and working abroad,” said Department of Health head for special concerns Anthony Calibo.

According to Calibo regardless if foreigners come in the Philippines or not to seek medical help, the medical tourism industry here will still grow “because we have growing OFWs, who prefer to get medical attention in their home land.”

If foreigners find it very expensive to avail of medical care in their own countries, how much more the Filipinos working abroad, “they are the first to come, and they are our ‘captured’ market for medical tourism.”

Calibo admitted that the Philippines’ positioning as a premier medical tourism destination, has been always put on the sidelight compared to other countries like Thailand, and India, because of negative publicities brought about by recent calamities like typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng, and the recent Maguindanao massacre, among others.

Good thing, he said that the Philippines will be assured of the dollar-earning Filipinos to go back to their home-country to avail of the different medical services, including vanity, dental, and executive check-up, among others.

Calibo underscored the top-notch and world-sought-after Filipino nurses, and good English speaking medical professionals, as one of the few advantages of the Philippines, compared to other countries.

“They may take our nurses out, but we still have good nurses and medical practitioners here,” Kalibo said.

However, there are still challenges that the medical institutions in the country should address seriously. This is in providing world-class medical services and technology, as the Philippines is already on top in terms of human-touch.

“We have to improve further. We need to work together in addressing issues that hamper of growth in attracting medical tourists, and the foreign retiree market,” said Kalibo.

While the “Balikbayans” of the Filipino community abroad are sustaining the medical tourism sector’s growth, the Philippines should also work hard in attracting more foreign patients or retiree vacationers in order to boost employment and revenue for the country’s economy.

Truly, he said the Philippines if only more medical institutions will get international accreditation and improve medical services, it can become a “threat” to other countries.

“We are a threat to well-known medical tourism destinations like Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia,” he said.

So far, in Cebu only one hospital has been able to get international standard certification to the Joint Commission International (JCI), the Chong Hua Hospital.

Kalibu hopes that more hospitals here will get this kind of certification, so that Cebu will be able to take advantage of the multi-million-dollar medical tourism market in the world.