Date: 18 February 2013
Asian patients drive Singapore's medical tourism recovery.
PATIENTS from neighbouring Asian countries now make up the
top five nationalities of medical tourists in Singapore instead of Americans
and Britons, as growth in their home economies outstrip developments in
healthcare.
According to local broadsheet The Straits Times, the number
of foreign patients seeking medical treatment is on the rise again after waning
in 2009 due to the global financial crisis.
According to statistics from Singapore’s Ministry of Health
and the Singapore Tourism Board, a total of 35,959 medical tourists visited the
city-state in 2011 and spent almost S$1 billion (US$806.9 million), an increase
over the two previous years.
Indonesians accounted for 47.2 per cent of these tourists,
with Malaysians a distant second at 11.5 per cent, followed by Bangladeshis
(five per cent), Vietnamese (4.1 per cent) and Myanmar nationals (2.7 per
cent).
The majority of medical tourists opt for treatment at
private hospitals, where procedures can be less costly as foreigners are not
subsidised at public ones, said The Straits Times. Statistics show most
tourists come for general surgery.
Healthcare experts interviewed by the paper said that while
US and UK citizens used to travel to Singapore for cheap medical services,
lower prices in Thailand, Malaysia and India are now posing strong competition.
Copyright @ TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd © 2013
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