Investors keen on putting up a healthcare facility in RP

The country's conducive environment for medical tourists coupled with ample supply of caregiving manpower prompted a Japanese and British investor to open a huge healthcare facility in the Philippines.

This despite the negative impact of the unresolved political crisis to the confidence of foreign investors.

Board of Investments (BOI) managing head Elmer Hernandez said Japanese and British investors are now scouting for local partners as well as looking for a good site for the said facility that will accommodate the medical tourists market.

In an interview with Hernandez recently, he said that a Japanese investor is interested to put up a 1,000-bed healthcare facility in the Philippines, most probably it will be set up in the Luzon area.

The ToKu Shakai is one of the biggest healthcare service providers in Japan. According to Hernandez, a group of executives from this company had already expressed their interest to invest in this kind of facility here.

Also there is a British investor who has inquired with the BOI about putting up a healthcare facility as well as finding a potential Filipino partner for the business.

Moreover, a big investment for healthcare facility will soon open in Davao in the coming months.

However, so far these investors have not mentioned Cebu as one of their preferred locations for this kind of investment.

Cebu, with its tourists-friendly environment, and relatively good peace and order situation, is groomed to be the next hub for medical tourists in the country.

Although the province has the potential to immediately capture the multi-million dollar market for medical tourism, unavailability of fitted facilities such as retirement village, or internationally at par hospitals are two important issues that have kept Cebu from taking off.

"We have very good prospects for healthcare and wellness investments. Our good caregivers who are in demand abroad is one of our advantage over other countries," Hernandez said.

The growing Japanese tourists who are seeking cheaper services for healthcare is one of the country's primary markets, next to the Europeans and Americans.

Medical tourism, which is growing in popularity in the West and is helping the economies of countries like Thailand, is a new concept that combines healthcare and tourism.

Earlier, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) expressed its interest to initiate promotional efforts to invite investors to set up facilities to accommodate the medical tourists. The ideal environment to house the medical tourists especially from the European market may offer both healthcare and leisure services, such as (small) golf course, along the beach, with internationally-at par room, food and beverage services.

In a separate interview, Cebu Doctors Hospital Inc. chairman Potenciano Larrazabal said that his company is conducting a feasibility study to construct an integrated healthcare facility to accommodate the growing market for medical tourism.

Reports said that the Medical Tourism is the next phenomenon here in the Philippines, next to call centers.

In Thailand alone, the industry earned around $280 million from treating 308,000 foreign patients. India on the other hand expects to earn at least $ 1 billion from healthcare tourism by 2012.