From a nip-and-tuck to a heart bypass, hospitals from India to Singapore and South Korea treat more than 1 million foreign patients a year -- lured by cut-price surgery, no waiting lists, cutting-edge technology, and highly trained doctors.
Industry experts predict medical tourism in Asia will grow at a rate of 15 to 20 percent a year, mainly due to the emergence of nouveaux riches in the region. "Asian medical tourism ... seems to be increasing as affluence and mobility increase in Asia," said David Vequist, head of the Center for Medical Tourism Research at the University of the Incarnate Word in Texas.
"Consumer choice is a powerful force now in healthcare and is impacted by ageing and increasingly heavier, sicker, and more needy populations in Asia." Medscape News web site has forecast medical tourism in Asia could generate $4.4 billion by 2012.
The United States provides the most patients, as Americans travel abroad to avert the astronomical costs of having private treatment at home. Typically, Americans can save 40-50 percent. But there is a new patient on the operating table, and he or she is Chinese. Many of these patients are willing to spend what it takes to fix their problem.
"No matter how expensive it is, I will go for it," says Liu Xiao-yang, 34, of Shanghai, after having double-eyelid surgery, a facelift and corrective jaw surgery in Seoul. The rise of an affluent class in China, and an infatuation with so-called Hallyu, or Korean Wave, culture from pop music to drama have spurred a sharp growth in South Korean medical tourism, mainly in the field of cosmetic surgery.
South Korea may be one of the fastest growing medical tourism destinations, but for now it lags far behind trailblazers Thailand, Singapore, India, Malaysia and even the Philippines.
They all have their own distinctive marketing strategies in an attempt to woo clients, as well as areas of specialisation. Thailand and India, Asia's leading destinations, specialise in orthopaedic and cardiac surgery.
India's government says its medical services are cheaper than those in southeast Asia, and identifies its English-speaking doctors as providing a "major comfort factor". It has even introduced a special visa category to cater for the growing number of medical tourists.
Thailand sells itself as dual purpose destination where medical treatment can be combined with a cheap recuperative holiday. Bangkok was this year identified by TripIndex as the best value global city for U.S. travellers.
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