Why medical tourism?

My initial reaction to the news that we will now be promoting medical tourism was one of caution. Given the state of our medical care system and the chronic shortage of hospital beds, I am skeptical that medical tourism will be of real benefit to folks other than hospital owners.

The long lines at the admission section of most hospitals is a clear indication that medical tourism will only make things worse for us as foreign patients get priority. Hospitals, including the big ones, don’t have enough nurses so they usually block off a lot of rooms because they don’t have staff to provide the necessary service. We really don’t have hospital rooms to spare.

Still, there is no denying that medical tourism could be a foreign exchange earner for the economy. But we have formidable competitors among our neighbors who are already entrenched in the business. Besides, our local hospitals will have to get international accreditation.

Four Philippine hospitals have been cited by Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards for Hospitals (JCI) for rendering the best service to Filipino patients. They are Makati Medical Center and Asian Hospital for hospital program; The Medical City in Pasig City for hospital program and acute myocardial infarction; St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Quezon City for academic medical center hospital program as well as for primary stroke.

JCI is a medical commission that helps international health-care organizations improve and demonstrate the quality of patient care. JCI’s accreditation and certification process is acknowledged by many medical organizations as essential in assuring a safe environment for their patients.

The JCI Accreditation and Certification procedure is seen as a platform to consider when choosing a hospital or a medical center. Hospital accreditation assures patients and their families of their involvement in the healthcare process as partners.

My comments on medical tourism in a previous column elicited a reaction from a former colleague in the Lopez Group, Eckie Gonzalez, now chairman of The Medical City. Eckie provided a perspective for viewing medical tourism.

“Thailand has Indochina, Singapore has Indonesia, the Philippines has Micronesia and the rest of the Western Pacific as backwater natural fountains for medical tourism flow. Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have graduated in perception as global medical travel hubs – Thailand as number one for emergent economies. Twelve years ago, at Bangkok airport, Bumrungrad Hospital already had a patient way station with VIP direct pick-up, a book with pictures of its top doctors at its business class lounge and billboards featuring top hospitals on major thoroughfares circling the airport.

“Despite paltry marketing as a medical destination, let’s not sell our country short on the quality of our clinicians. In a similar tour of Indonesian hospitals over a decade ago, I chanced upon a sign that said ‘Indonesian doctor, Philippine-trained.’  The recent Indian medical board topnotcher studied in the Philippines.  Excellent clinical reputation shines through our US migrant medical practitioners. Like Philippine nurses, our doctors imbibe a caring bedside manner into their practice.

“Some 40 percent of medical travelers like to combine treatment and leisure. About 40 percent typically seek cosmetic and dental procedures.  End-to-end patient support is key, from overarching hospital accreditation and clinician trust, to patient journey logistics including post-operative care.  We haven’t built a medical ecosystem however the way Thailand has, with its 62 JCI-accredited hospitals. The Philippines has four.

“How big is the potential for medical tourism?  We need to start from the top. The Thai economy is 10 percent larger than the Philippines - $520 billion vs $470 billion GDP in 2024.  Tourism is a major economic pillar in Thailand, with 28 versus our six million tourists visiting annually, and tourists spending $60 billion there verus $9 billion here. (The tourism economy of Thailand is 90 percent of our combined BPO and remittance sectors.) Rough estimates put medical tourism’s impact at $9 billion for 2.5 million medical travelers visiting Thailand, and $400 million for 200,000 (visitors) for us.

“Let’s say we reach the tourism levels of Vietnam and Indonesia today. That’s 15 million plus international visitor arrivals yearly based on current trend, and $1,500 spend per tourist, or $22 billion annually. If medical travel is 10 percent of value, that’s 1.1 million medical travelers spending $2,000 each.

“DOT has agreed to give TMC its own lounge at NAIA for accepting international patients for medical treatment, after which we whisk Micronesians away for executive check-ups, interventional cardiology or open-heart surgery. We’re looking to extend JCI accreditation to the rest of our network hospitals and clinics down the road.”

I asked Eckie why we only have four JCI accredited hospitals.

“Hospitals need to see the value of JCI to their operation and it is certainly a badge of quality for medical tourism. There are accreditation costs, but also standards of facility and patient care that need to be adhered to consistently. JCI is renewed every three years, and is based on US JC accreditation standards of hospitals for Medicare/aid.”

We have a number of other good hospitals not on the JCI accreditation list I accessed from JCI’s website. Based on my recent experience, Cardinal Santos Medical Center should easily hurdle the standards as with other hospitals in the MVP Group. And there is one hospital in Cebu with quite a good reputation too and was once JCI accredited.

Maybe the local benefit of medical tourism other than the potential revenues, is to challenge the local hospitals to work for international accreditation. It is an opportunity for our hospitals to benchmark with the best hospitals in the world granted with the same level of recognition. That will reassure us that world-class practice of medicine is available to us, medical tourists aside.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco.