Wellness sector offers unified packages to attract med tourists

CEBU, Philippines - Although Cebu has yet to fully maximize its potential to capture a sizeable chunk of the medical tourism market, players are starting to establish attractive products and services to lure medical tourists worldwide.

  “We already have implemented unified packages but we are adding more activities,” said Cebu Health and Wellness Council (CHWC) vice-chairperson Jenny Franco adding that a website will also be set up to offer these packages online.

Aside from the huge “balikbayan” market, Cebu is gaining popularity to medical tourists from Singapore, Bahrain, Australia, United States, and Europe.

In the US for instance, Filipino-Americans are the major clients for dental services in Cebu, as well as the American travelers, because most of them do not have dental insurance. Besides, dental services in the US are much expensive, compared to the rates offered here.

Franco said the reason why Cebu is positioning to excel in attracting these light medical tourists, because “we mix our offerings with holiday and vacation packages. Cebu, after all is a holiday destination.”

Also included in the packages are promoting Yoga and meditation and art lessons, among others, she added.

According to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), despite the effort of the private sector to make the country more attractive to medical tourists, the Philippines continues to get a miniscule share of the medical tourism markets even if its offers better prices specifically in surgical procedures than its Asian counterparts or competitors.

In a statement, PIDS recommended that in order for the Philippines to improve its status in attracting medical tourists, it has to form a coordinating body (council or board) among offices and agencies involved in the medical tourism industry. A marketing campaign for the 21 premier hospitals included under the Philippine Medical Tourism Program (PMTP) must also be crafted and implemented.

On their own, Franco said Cebu is trying to get ahead in capturing the medical tourists, as its target is not for the serious medical treatments, but Cebu’s positioning is to attract the active medical tourists whose interest are to seek dental, cosmetology treatments, beauty and wellness products and services.

PIDS record revealed that the Philippines is among the top 15 medical tourism destinations in 2010. The country is ranked 11th on medical tourism which has 80,000 medical tourists but tails behind Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Thailand has the topnotch position among the medical tourism destinations, with a total of 1.2 million medical tourists in 2010. Other ASEAN countries have shown exemplary performance, with Singapore having 600,000 and Malaysia with 350,000 medical tourists in the same year.

In as much as there are many Filipino physicians who have foreign credentials, PDIS underscored that the Philippine hospitals should get accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI) as the country is still lagging behind in terms of JCI-accredited hospitals among its Asian competitors.

In Cebu, the Chong Hua Hospital already got its JCI accreditation about five years ago.

JCI is a body that accredits hospitals and health care providers outside the United States that have internationally standard services. This is also one of the requirements for a health care facility to officially accommodate medical tourists around the world.

JCIs accreditation assists international health care organizations; public health agencies, health ministries and others evaluate, improve and demonstrate the quality and safety of patient care in their nations.

According to Franco, aside from encouraging hospitals to get its international accreditation, support services in the wide medical tourism sector should be well activated in order to start off attracting the world’s medical tourists. — (FREEMAN)