Cebu wellness group aims to raise P1M support funds

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Health and Wellness Council (CHWC) aims to raise at least P1 million support especially from the local government units (LGUs) to help promote the medical and leisure tourism in Cebu.

 CHWC prime mover Nelia F. Navarro, who is also the provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry-Cebu Provincial Office, said that even just an assured P1 million funding support can make the organization “fly”.

According to Navarro the CHWC’s money sourced from dues of its members, cannot sustain the mobility of the organization especially that it is planning to embark into a very aggressive promotional campaign to promote Cebu as a preferred medical tourism destination, at the same time incorporating the Province’s advantage as leisure vacation site.

Navarro said CHWC is seeking funding support from the Cebu Provincial government, as well as the Cebu City government.

To date, individual stakeholders are only promoting the capability of Cebu to accommodate medical tourists through a website.

The growth of Cebu’s tourism industry can be achieved well if a united promotional campaign by the industry will be started, which is the primary thrust of CHWC, Navarro said.

 “We plan to make an ‘all-in-one’ package for medical tourists,” Navarro said explaining that in close coordination with the travel operators medical tourists will be offered both medical services, at the same time leisure and vacation itinerary.

Aside from promotional campaign, CHWC president Oscar Tuason said the organization is also planning to put up a system that will track the number of foreign medical tourists checking in to different hospitals in Cebu, to quantify the capability of Cebu as truly “medical tourism” hub.

At this time, hospitals are just starting to record the number of foreign patients, on their own, not as industry.    

For years, Cebu had not been able to track the number of foreign tourists availing of medical services here. Now, the industry has realized the importance of coming up with a system that will track the number of medical tourists coming to Cebu.

For Cebu Doctors Hospital for instance, wherein Tuason sits as the administrative vice president, he said that the hospital is getting an average of 50 to 60 foreign patients a month. These are tourists that are availing out-patient procedure such as laboratory services, gastro procedures, among others.

Tuason said CDH is aiming to hit at least 100 patient a month, for a start. But, this can be improved whenever a united promotion of the industry will be started.

Hopefully, with the participation of Cebu medical tourism stakeholders to the World Health Tourism Congress, this coming March 26-28 (2009) in Manila, it could help bolster Cebu’s bid coming a premier medical tourism destination in the Philippines, or in Asia.

As of this time, Navarro said the industry cannot provide the exact statistics of how much the medical tourism is contributing to Cebu’s overall economy, with the lack of financial capacity of the CHWC to do so.— Ehda M. Dagooc