RP ready for medical tourism

Healthcare with leisure.

This is how the Department of Tourism (DoT) describes its new program aimed at positioning the country as a competitive health vacation destination in Asia, targeting both the wellness/spa and medical tourist markets.

Newly appointed DoT Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan announced that under the Philippine Health Tourism Program (PHTP), DoT and its partner agencies such as the Department of Health – Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (DoH-PITAHC) and the Department of Energy (DoE) will jointly be offering cost-effective medical treatments combined with special itineraries that will showcase some of the best tourist attractions the country could offer to tourists.

The Philippines is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia and in Asia to offer such specialized tour offerings with only Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and India being the other competitors.

Pagdanganan explained that the new program will be offered to tourists whose main purpose for visiting the Philippines is to undergo "minimally invasive medical procedures and treatments."

Specially-designed tours integrated to the medical programs by accredited hospitals and healthcare establishments, will then be offered to suit the needs of this market segment.

Health holidays is the latest trend outside Europe and is significantly growing in other parts of the world. "If the growth of health resorts in Asia, including the Philippines, is anything to go by, there would seem to be a huge potential to develop health tourism as a great come-on since health and wellness using traditional healing methods, such as massage, healing and herbs is very much part of the Asian culture."

DoT, DoH-PITAHC and DoE have already come up with rules and regulations for the accreditation of health establishments, wellness centers and hospitals in the country, using DoT’s standards for hotels as the benchmark. Currently, only St. Luke’s Medical Center remains as the only hospital that has met these standards.

"But the horizon for health tourism in the country looks very good as the application for accreditation of other hospitals such as the Asian Hospital in Alabang, Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City and Medical City in Mandaluyong City are already underway," he said.

Likewise, through the efforts of the DoT, the government’s firm support in developing the potentials of medical tourism is manifested in the 2004 Investment Priorities Plan therefore qualifying its development for certain investment incentives such as reduced tariffs on the importation of hospital equipment.

The country’s bid as a health vacation destination was also reinforced during the state visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Bahrain last December when she signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Tourism Cooperation wherein the Bahraini Government expressed interest to send medical tourists to the Philippines. This will be facilitated with the air services agreement forged between the Philippines and Bahrain, which was also signed during the said state visit where DoT Undersecretary for Planning and Product Development Evelyn Pantig was a member of the Philippine delegation.

Pagdanganan said that the tour programs are already being finalized to be integrated to the medical packages while local and international sales missions and promotions are already being lined up to draw much attention to the program.

A Medical Tourism Forum and modules for the implementation of a "Mabuhay Host Training Program" for healthcare frontliners of accredited hospitals are already under way.