Foreign tourists often flock to Vietnam to see the colonial architecture and limestone protruding from the ocean. Now some go to Vietnamese clinics and hospitals. They are a part of Asia’s newest medical tourism industry.
Vietnamese officials hope medical tourists will emerge from a threefold increase in arrivals between 2010 and 2018. Key attractions: dentists and cosmetic surgery.
Domestic analysts say Vietnam’s political stability, inexpensive health care and comparatively top quality of some sorts of medicines are already driving the initial trend. Vietnam will join Asian competitors similar to Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan as magnets for medical tourism, while also charging lower fees.
“I see a trend of people coming here. It is cheaper to do business here than in Thailand and definitely in Singapore,” said Mike Lynch, managing director of SSI Institutional Brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. “The largest group is plastic surgery. There’s a lot going on here.”
Money maker for Vietnam
According to the government-run news website Vietnam Investment Review, greater than 80,000 foreigners have up to now arrived in Vietnam for medical “examinations and coverings”, with their total income amounting to greater than $1 billion. The website adds that the country’s medical sector is growing 18-20 percent yearly.
Business consulting firm Dezan Shira & Associates itself estimates revenues for 2017 at $2 billion. “Vietnam is emerging as a key player in the medical tourism industry in Southeast Asia,” says the consultancy.
Tran Quoc Bao, director of planning and marketing at City International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, told a regional conference earlier this yr that Vietnam is a “preferred hub for health care and wellness services,” in keeping with an investment review.
Revenues from Singapore and Thailand suggest that medical tourism is paying off. The Tourism Authority of Thailand projected gross revenue from medical tourism to achieve 26 billion baht ($860 million) last yr, up 14% from 2017, Thai media reported. Singapore’s medical tourism revenue grew at a ten% compound annual growth rate until 2017, when it stood at 1 billion Singapore dollars ($737 million), says online magazine Healthcare Asia.
Medical tourism generates no less than a 3rd of personal hospital revenues in most Southeast Asian countries, and the Asia-Pacific region was the world’s largest medical tourism market as of 2017, Zion Market Research found, cited by travel news website TTG Asia.
Tourism boom
Between 2010 and 2018, the variety of foreign tourists in Vietnam increased from 5 million to over 15 million.
According to data from the General Bureau of Statistics, greater than 2.8 million Chinese tourists visited Vietnam from January to July this yr, and the variety of tourists from South Korea increased by 22% during this era in comparison with the identical period in 2018. reaching over 2.4 million arrivals. China and South Korea are the 2 most important sources of tourism.
In the coastal vacation spots these tourists frequent – similar to Phu Quoc and Da Nang – resorts have “tried to integrate facilities to make them more suitable for medical tourism,” says Dezan Shira.
Dentistry is attracting Australians “massively” in the identical way that cosmetic surgery is attracting South Koreans, said Ralf Matthaes, founding father of consulting firm Infocus Mekong Research in Ho Chi Minh City. Some dentists studied abroad and returned to Vietnam to work, he said. Plastic surgeons include Koreans.
Lynch said dental work costs a tenth of what it costs in North America, and the standard of doctors is slowly improving. He predicts that regional healthcare corporations will eventually arrange offices in Vietnam in the event that they don’t have already got one there.
Threats and opportunities
Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand proceed to have higher reputations for overall healthcare. In Thailand, for instance, foreigners visit hospitals for comprehensive check-ups that include detecting cancer, blood sugar levels and any cardiovascular problems.
Matthaes, a resident of Vietnam for 25 years, warned against hospital care in Vietnam. He said doctors installed “inappropriate equipment” after he broke his leg, and successful medical malpractice lawsuits are rare.
“I would say it’s spotty at best, but when it comes to dentistry and plastic surgery, yes,” he said.
The additional fee can reduce risk and increase comfort, and yet the bill is usually lower than what patients would pay in a more developed country.
American energy consultant John Rockhold, 67, said his wife was in hospital for 4 days to present birth.
“Things have really improved in my opinion,” said Rockhold, a Vietnam veteran. “We gave birth to our youngsters here. My wife needed to have a cesarean section and we stayed at one in every of the international hospitals. I paid for an additional suite. Her mother-in-law could stay together with her, and she or he could order from 5 – 6 different restaurants. She was there for about 4 days and I got a bill for $1,200.
source: Voice of America
