Health & wellness sector told to develop a system

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebu provincial director Nelia F. Navarro said the health and wellness industry desperately needs a strong mechanism or a system that will bring together the different stakeholders in the industry to maximize the industry's potential.

In the upcoming Health and Wellness Forum, which will highlight the Opportunities in the Health and Wellness Industry in Cebu set on June 22, 2006 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, Navarro said a strong organizational framework or system in the industry should be formulated immediately after the one-day meeting, for Cebu to effectively attract international market, especially the medical tourists.

She stressed that stakeholders in the industry should also seriously consider the international market, and investment should be encouraged, including improvement of services and facilities.

The entire health and wellness industry should be strongly participated by the schools with medical courses, hospitals, specialty clinics, Spa operators, among others. Through putting together these sectors, the industry could take off and get special attention from the international market.

There are three sub-sectors in the health and wellness industry, these include; the Spa, Medical Tourism, and the Retirement Village.

Spa and Wellness Association of Cebu (SWAC) president Johnnie Lim said the Spa operators in Cebu are now doing efforts to uplift the image of the industry, significantly upgrade the skills of their massage therapists.

In attracting the medical tourist market, Navarro said the industry should also work strongly with the tour operators, or the travel agencies, as medical tourists are brought via a packaged tour.

According to Navarro, stakeholders should move positively in terms of pushing Cebu as a strong medical tourism destination, in order to invite investors to set up facilities that are needed for this new dollar-earner industry.

She added that currently Cebu has the capabilities to accommodate tourists seeking medical attention, as hospitals in Cebu are spending millions of pesos to improve their facilities and services, and the mushrooming of world-class specialty clinics, such as Eye Center, Cancer Center, among others.

However, she said there has to be a system that should be followed by stakeholders, "players in the industry must work together to push Cebu's niche in attracting medical tourists," Navarro said in a press conference yesterday to promote the upcoming health and wellness forum to be held few weeks from now, as part of the Cebu Business Month 2006 activity.

The Global health expenditure is at US$3 trillion annually. In 1999, Asia's healthcare market registered at US$390 billion, it is expected to increase to US610 billion in 2013.

Japan accounts for 70 percent of Asian Healthcare expenditures. The EU market on the other hand, spends 12 billion Euros a year for medical travels to tropical countries like the Philippines.

"We have the facilities, and we have the talents already. We have good doctors and specialists," Navarro said.

Because of several problems, including the infrastructure set up, Cebu has yet to take off in attracting the medical tourism market, although it has been trying for the last couple of years now.