Hospitals in the U.S. will face more competition as countries around the world sink resources into becoming international medical tourism destinations. Here's one example: The Taiwan Land Development Corp. Monday announced a plan to build three healthcare villages in Hualien, Kiment and Hsinchu, the China Post reports.
In a related development, the Philippines Department of Health pledged to help develop medical tourism in the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte, the Manila Bulletin reports. IGCS is already a resort-island city that draws foreign and local retirees. Before it becomes a medical tourism destination, a federal official said a new medical center would need to be built. The provincial governor apparently is willing to donate up to 10 hectares--or about 25 acres--of his land on the island for the new medical center site.
The prices for medical tourism can significantly undercut what's available in medical tourists' home countries. Twelve people in a tour group from Mainland China went to Taiwan for a six-day medical tourism stay that included full-body non-invasive scans at Taipei City's Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, a stay at a five-star hot spring resort and customized nutritional meals, Focus Taiwan, a government-run media outlet reports. The medical procedures included MRIs, PET scans and 256-slice CT scans to check for signs of cancer, cardiovascular disease and cerebral disease, which are leading causes of death in Taiwan. The whole package cost about US$1,911 per person.
Colombia's government is promoting the country as a place visitors can get low-cost treatments for cosmetic surgery and dentistry. The International Medical Travel Journal pegs the cost of medical treatment in Colombia at about one-seventh of the cost in the U.S. or Europe. One challenge Colombia faces: some of its hospitals still have not been internationally accredited.
The cost factor is luring Americans to Mexico, where prices can be as much as 60 percent less than in the U.S., SFGate.com reports. It cites the example of one California resident who saved $100,000 on two knee surgeries. The Mexican government projects the number of visitors seeking medical treatment there could reach 650,000 annually by 2020.
To learn more:
- read the SFGate.com article
- read the China Post article
- see this International Medical Travel Journal article
- here's the Manila Bulletin article
- read this Focus Taiwan article