Medical tourism in the Philippines equals care, comfort and compassion
An estimated more than half-a-million Americans traveled overseas for medical and health tourism in 2006. By the end of 2009, this number, according to some experts, may reach several million. For Americans, the main motivation is financial because of ever escalating health care costs in the United States.
Clearly, the global health care industry is expanding with the Philippines poised to capture a chunk of that market. The country’s world-class physicians and its modern medical facilities equipped with the latest technology are major factors for the growth of its medical tourism program, according to Cynthia Carrion, undersecretary for sports and wellness tourism. Her department comes under the umbrella of the Department of Tourism which sends an obvious signal to the world that the Philippines means business in this area.
Tourism secretary, Ace Durano, says “The Philippines welcomes guests to take advantage of the value for money offered by our health and wellness tourism program through high quality medical services.”
The Public-Private Partnership Task Force on globally competitive Philippines industries (PPPTF) is composed of leaders from many disciplines, including doctors and hospital directors. The latter form an important group focusing on promoting health and wellness and disseminating informational programs.
One group is “The Medical City,” a private tertiary care hospital that has been working in this field for over 40 years providing complete health and wellness programs for all ages.
According to Cynthia Carrion, a good number of Filipino doctors received their medical training in the United States and interned in U.S. hospitals. Returning to the Philippines, they have shared their knowledge with younger practitioners at some of the country’s renowned medical centers such as The Medical City and St. Luke’s Hospital.
In addition, Filipinos are inherently caring and compassionate which provides a genuine recipe for success in the health care field, notes the undersecretary.
The Medical City: Where Patients are Partners
Excerpts from a recent interview conducted with Margaret Bengzon, group head strategic services.
Question: The Medical City places much emphasis on a holistic approach to health care as well as a “partnership approach” in treating patients. Can you outline where the origins of these approaches came from and how they have grown over the years? Do you see any changes to this approach or are you satisfied it has worked for The Medical City?
Answer: Forty years of experience have helped us to understand that patient health care can no longer be delivered the traditional way—a one-sided engagement wherein the doctor tells the patient what to do and the patient just obeys. Health care delivery must evolve.
Our patient partnership philosophy stems from TMC’s belief that the doctor and patient are at parity.
TMC works hard to train our doctors to understand the patient-partnership philosophy by teaching them how to better engage the patient and understand the patient’s lifestyle.
On the other side of the partnership—our Center for Patient for Partnership strives to provide good patient educational materials, support groups and classes for various diseases like diabetes, cancer and strokes that are made available to the general public. By equipping our patients and potential patients with the facts and practical knowledge about their health situation, then they will be in a better position to engage their doctors in a discussion about their health care requirements.
In a recent survey conducted by Scribevision, an independent marketing consultant, 47 percent of their respondents indicated that TMC is the most preferred hospital among the country’s top five leading tertiary care institutions and this is attributed largely to our patient partnership approach in delivering health services.
We will continue to espouse this philosophy for the years to come and back this up with the best medical expertise and technological advances that make sense from the patient and business perspectives.
Q: For an American patient to get on a plane and cross the Pacific Ocean for treatment in the Philippines, distance as well as travel time could be a major obstacle. Obviously cost is a great motivation with costs in the Philippines around 60 percent less than the equivalent in the United States. Are there any other reasons that strike you as important, as to why Americans should come to the Philippines and specifically to The Medical City for treatment?
A: Caring for others selflessly is very much in our DNA and this is partly what makes Filipino health care professionals in demand in the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
As such, the natural approach of Filipino health care professionals and providers is very personalized. This is a qualitative trait that cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents but certainly goes a long way in helping put the patient in the right mindset of healing.
Q: How do you rank the Philippines alongside other major Southeast Asia medical tourism destinations like Thailand or Singapore? And what are the advantages of seeking treatment in the Philippines as opposed to other destinations?
A: The Philippines is on equal footing with the world’s best and with the collaboration of the private sector with the different government agencies, the Philippines will see a significant rise in international patient influx in the coming months.
The Philippines is also host to a number of pioneering efforts like in the case of TMC, our main area of innovation is in regenerative medicine — treatments that involve stem cell and molecular biology to address a whole range of needs from staying well to recovering from very serious illnesses including advanced renal failure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, strokes and Alzheimer’s disease. This is an area where we are actually ahead of medical institutions abroad.
Last but certainly not least, Filipinos have strong communication skills in English and the country has one of the world’s highest literacy rates.
Q: In 2006, The Medical City was awarded the prestigious, JCI (Joint Commission International) accreditation. Has this helped to boost the number of patients that come from abroad? What is the ratio of Filipino versus international patients?
What does The Medical City have to do to maintain the standards that the JCI demands?
A: The volume of our patients is still locally based. While the numbers of international patients are still small, there is a clear trend of steady growth given a more concerted effort by the private and government sectors to boost the country’s bid as an international patient destination of choice.
TMC has established dedicated JCI task forces to ensure that we are always in compliance with the JCI directives and initiatives in areas such as access to care, continuity of care, quality improvement and patient safety. We are in the process now of gearing up for re-accreditation by the JCI in 2010.
Q: What is The Medical City doing to attract business from abroad and specifically the United States?
We invest in relationships with credible publications such as The Washington Times.
We conduct regular road shows in various cities in the United States, either in tandem with the Philippine Department of Tourism or with international event organizers or even on our own initiative. We recently participated as a major sponsor at the fourth World Health Tourism Congress (WHTC) which was hosted by the Philippines. There were delegates from Arab nations, Europe, Southeast Asia and North America.
We are also building relationships and forming synergies with a number of international partners—i.e. corporate clients, vendors, health care insurance providers and travel agencies specializing in medical tourism.
Q: Lastly, there are so many different titles that an article on The Medical City could have: “The Capital of Health,” “A Medical Sanctuary,” “Partnering with Patients” are among the few that spring to mind. Which do you like the best? Or perhaps you have another idea for one?
A: The Medical City: Where Patients are Partners.
