Abstract
Medical or health tourism is among the fastest growing industries in the
world. The major forces driving growth of this emerging industry include the
rising cost of healthcare and limiting scope of insurance coverage in
developed countries, increasing waiting time for treatments, and low cost of
treatments elsewhere.
Medical tourism market is characterized by tough competition in the Asian
countries. Health system in Singapore is ranked as the best in Asia and
amongst the best in the world. The country is well known for quality medicine
and state-of-the art medical care. Growth in the medical tourism sector in
Thailand has been largely led by the private sector. The number of foreign
patients in Malaysia is projected to grow at a rate of about 25-30 percent
until 2010. India, on the other hand, offers medical treatment at the lowest
cost along with providing alternate therapies like yoga, ayurveda,
aromatherapy, and acupuncture.
Thailand is the only country which is faced with tough competition from both
ends, low-cost treatments from India and Malaysia as well as high-end medical
services from Singapore. In the meantime, price difference between Singapore
and Thailand is also reducing at a significant rate. All the leading hospitals
in Asian countries are getting themselves accredited by international
associations.
This report gives an overview of the medical tourism industry with its growth
drivers and trends. It discusses the main medical tourist destinations of Asia
and their respective competitive advantages. The major healthcare
organizations in Asia are also discussed in the later part of the report.
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