Travel is no longer simply a journey from Point A to Point B. It has become a significant lifestyle and has already spawned several subcultures. Business travelers, backpackers, and even jet-setting partyphiles lug their liquid- and gel-free baggage around and switch countries and area codes all the time. The newest passenger is the medical traveler, a person who travels to another country with the intent to receive health care. Many patients (and their loved ones) go abroad to seek medical procedures not offered locally or which are cheaper, to get a second opinion or simply to enjoy more luxurious healthcare.
Singapore has been developing their healthcare services to cater to the medical traveler. Dr. Jason Yap, director of the Healthcare Services of the Singapore Tourism Board, clarifies that medical travel is “not tourism. It’s simply extending the current continuum of medical care across borders.” With more international patients, they can improve their healthcare services even more and extend their medical community.
Travelers have always enjoyed visiting Singapore for its hygiene, security, leisure, and multicultural nature. However, the city is also Asian’s top choice for medical travel. It was ranked Asia’s Best Healthcare System by the WHO in 2000, and has one-third of all Asia’s Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited healthcare facilities, covering the whole of their public sector and most of their private. (The JCI is the overseas arm of the United States’ largest hospital accreditation agency.) Also a destination for doctors and scientists, Singapore is developing into the Biopolis of Asia, advancing human health through the pursuit of excellence in R&D, manufacturing and healthcare delivery.
Various healthcare centers in Singapore have international patient service centers, hotlines and service providers. They take care of accommodation, airport pick-up and transportation (which is free of charge), language interpretation, direct admission arrangement, and even visa extension. Patients and their accompanying loved ones can expect personalized and genuine care before, during and after their visit. “We want to provide peace of mind,” says Dr. Yap. Patients will never be bothered by thoughts of questionable doctors, dubious procedures, social antagonism or racial discrimination.
Gleneagles Hospital
Gleneagles is under Parkway Group Healthcare, Asia’s largest and leading private healthcare group. Parkway commands an over-60-percent market share of private healthcare for foreign patients, with three Singapore hospitals in their hospital division, including East Shore Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Gleneagles. Parkway also boasts several Centers of Excellence, where specialist tertiary care can be given in one location.
The hospital is truly impressive, from their roster of specialists to their various achievements. Gleneagles is the first hospital in Southeast Asia to use state-of-the-art Robotic SurgiScope for neurosurgery, ENT and spinal surgeries and has been given numerous awards such as the Asian Hospital Management Award for Best Customer Service in 2004. Even their interiors are quite notable. When we visited their suites, I almost forgot I was in a hospital. From the hallways to the couches in the living room to the collection of magazines beside the beds, the rooms looked like hotel rooms. Their ICU rooms were fully equipped with modern beds and computers.
Gleneagles has its own sub-specialized Liver Unit while also housing the Asian Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, dedicated to patients with various liver problems. Gleneagles started the Living Donor Liver Transplant (LDLT) Program, which gives patients with liver disease new hope through the opportunity of a liver transplant. LDLT reduces the waiting time for the donor, which lessens the risk of things going wrong. Procedures can be scheduled accordingly to both the donor and recipient.
LDLT allows their team to extensively evaluate the recipients. Besides a comprehensive group of doctors who evaluate the patient (from the surgeon to the dentist), there is a special ethics committee that studies the case to protect the interests of both the donor and recipient. Their team of experienced doctors has already performed LDLT in Singapore and overseas, and they have had an 85-percent success rate.
Gleneagles also houses the Parkway Cancer Centre, a comprehensive, integrated and patient-focused facility. Patients are given a full range of treatments and services, everything from internal and external irradiation to chemotherapy. They also have CanHOPE, a dedicated hotline for cancer information, counseling, and other cancer-related matters. They give psychosocial and emotional support, with patient education and resource, aftercare and homecare, and coping strategies. All of this is indicative of Parkway as a healthcare group: absolutely committed to giving compassionate care, quality service, and a multidisciplinary approach.
For more information, call or visit:
Gleneagles Hospital is at 6A Napier Road, Singapore 258500. Call(65) 6473 7222 or Fax: (65)6475-1832. Visit their website at www.gleneagles.com.sg. Parkway Group Healthcare, International Patient Assistance Center, Singapore 24-Hour Medical Referral Center (MRC) with hotline (65)6735-5000; e-mail at mrc@parkway.sg. International Patient Assistance Center, Manila with telephone no. 751- 8225 Fax no. 751 8227; e-mail: kelly@parkway.com.ph
Tan Tock Seng Hospital
The National Healthcare Group (NHG) is a leader in public healthcare in Singapore, but it’s a quite different from public healthcare as we know it. In early 2000, public healthcare delivery was reorganized into two operative clusters, NHG being one of them. This allowed for the emergence of private healthcare companies being wholly owned by the government.
Singapore’s second largest hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital has already received numerous accolades, like the JCI accreditation, three different ISO recognitions and the Singapore Quality Class. Tan Tock Seng also has several medical milestones under their belt, such as Asia’s first vision restoration therapy in 2005 (for patients with visual field defects from post-geniculate brain disorders like strokes) and Asia’s first restore spinal cord stimulation implant in 2006 (a rechargeable pulse generator that provides more and better relief for chronic pain).
Their hospital practices are innovative and impressive. To ensure quality and patient safety, they undergo a “Time-Out” before major surgeries, quickly double-checking if they have the right patient and if they’re doing the correct procedure. Also, they don’t use gloves or facemasks, instead practicing vigorous hand washing to assure their patients their utmost hygiene. They’re that confident.
They’ve developed and utilized their technology to make services faster, better, safer and affordable. They have COWs (or computers-on-wheels), which make it easier for them to get, transfer and interpret data. Tan Tock Seng even has automated guided vehicles (AGVs), robots that serve and pick up plates of food. They’re these amazing small moving blocks that accelerate, decelerate, turn corners, and play “Please give way” recordings when detecting someone blocking their path.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital promises the highest standards of healthcare, with the best facilities and interiors. All of them are designed to put the patients first, always. Their rooms are beautiful (beds have soothing and attractive blue bed covers, unlike the typical hospital green) yet very affordable. Their specialist centers, like the Tan Tock Seng Hospital Eye Centre, are beautiful and designed to accommodate all the services that a patient needs. The hospital also has a Starbucks branch, a large and beautiful cafeteria, and a Healing Sky Garden hanging in the middle of the hospital (this helps soothe patients psychologically). The doctors smile simply when they see us admiring everything. “That’s Singapore,” they say. “That’s class.”
For more information, call or visit:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng Singapore 308433. E-mail them at www.ttsh.com.sg. National Healthcare Group, International Patient Liaison Centre, Singapore. It’s 24-hour help line is (65)6779-2777; e-mail at iplc@nhg.com.sg.
Pacific Healthcare
Tucked inside the plush Paragon shopping center on the famous Orchard Road, amidst brands like Gucci and Ferragamo, are Pacific Healthcare’s medical centers. Pacific Healthcare is an integrated healthcare provider that offers a comprehensive range of services from specialist medical care, general practice medicine, wellness services and even the operation of day surgery centers and psychiatric hospital. With their integrated healthcare services, patients are given treatment in a multi-disciplinary manner by a team of 100 professionals.
Aside from their clinical services, they have several unique specialities such as Age Management. By looking at certain markers of aging and hormone levels, specialists are able to understand the status of your current health, as well as analyze your risk for major diseases like cancers or diabetes. Their services include health profiling, age management therapies and bio-identical hormones. People with sleep disorders and snoring problems can visit the Pacific Sleep Centre, part of their Otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) services.
A lot of their patients who avail of their clinical services visit the Wellness Lounge after they have had procedures done to unwind and relax. It is a medical aesthetic and wellness sanctuary that offers various face, body and sleep spa services. There is a Post Liposuction Care package to reduce swelling and even out the skin texture. They have special pre- and post-natal treatments for women who want to lose baby weight in a healthy way. More interesting services are insomnia relief programs, anti-hair loss treatments, and meso face slim (for those who hate their double chins and chubby cheeks).
We watched someone blissfully getting a diamond peel, then a vitamin C infusion on her skin. Later, she had a Therma Body Sculptor treatment, where loose skin is treated and sculpted with dual radio frequency technology. After her treatment, the lady walked away absolutely glowing. It probably was the facial, but the expert medical care and personal special attention certainly helped. I’m pretty sure that everyone who emerges from any clinic of Pacific Healthcare has that happy, healthy glow.
For more information, call or visit:
International Medical Assistance Centre, 290 Orchard Road, 19-01, Paragon, Singapore 238859, Tel no. (65)6883-6966, 24-hour hotline at (65)-6887 3737 or e-mail customerservice@pachealthholdings.com
