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In crowded market, Taiwan’s medical travel industry grows
What’s new: The 2019 Healthcare+ Expo Taiwan features 1,900 booths showcasing healthcare advancements
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hat’s new: The 2019 Healthcare+ Expo Taiwan features 1,900 booths showcasing healthcare advancements. Taiwan is striving to catch up to more established medical tourism players in Asia.
Tourism has been traditionally associated with going to faraway places for fun — shopping for branded luxuries, sunbathing in tropical beaches or trekking through jungles. That was until a few years ago when going abroad for life-or-death cardiac surgery began to be regarded as a form of tourism too.
It is true that many wealthy Indonesians travel to Taiwan or South Korea for aesthetic surgery or to Malaysia and Singapore for cancer treatments. That may sound like a heart-wrenching form of tourism but the phrase has become globally accepted.
The worldwide medical tourism business continues to grow. A recent study by market research company Wise Guy Reports forecasted that the global medical tourism market would grow from US$56.3 billion in 2018 to $136.6 billion in 2023. (Different studies have come up with different figures, but they agree that the business is growing.)
The report, as run by the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper, said that the upward trend was spurred by rising medical costs in the United States and Europe, combined with increasing healthcare standards and access to technology, particularly in Asian countries.
Asia continues to enjoy the industry’s boom. In the past decades, from long before the practice was known as “medical tourism”, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India have dominated the market. Lately, mainland China and Taiwan have been gaining more market share. Taiwan is particularly worth watching because it has been pursuing aggressive marketing campaigns beyond its borders, attracting potential buyers with technology, competitive prices and friendly service.
Taiwanese Health and Welfare Ministry statistics show that 305,600 foreign tourists visited Taiwan in 2017 for medical treatment or checkups. This was more than a 70 percent increase from 2012.
Taiwan’s quality healthcare system is internationally recognized. Its aim to become one of the world players in the industry is also backed by its infrastructure. The Taoyuan International Airport connects major airports in the world. It is linked to Indonesia through direct flights to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
In collaboration with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), local hospitals have been promoting the country’s healthcare industry to the world through exhibitions and cooperation with select hospitals and universities. Striving to tap the huge potential in Southeast and South Asian countries, they initiated the “southbound policy” to cooperate with healthcare providers in those regions.
Indonesia and other developing countries in ASEAN, where the market is dominated by Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia mainly for proximity, are attracted by more affordable medical costs and state-of-the-art technology. Chinese from the mainland still account for the most of Taiwanese hospitals’ international patients, apparently for the proximity of the two nations and the similarity of their languages.
Indicative medical treatment prices were hard to find during my short, closely guided hospital tours, but the International Medical Travel Journal reported in its January 2019 edition that a coronary artery bypass cost between $22,000 and $30,000, a hip replacement $7,000 to $8,400, a facelift $6,000 to $6,500, in vitro fertilization $7,000 to $7,500, gastric bypass about $10,000 and dental fillings $30.
Seven healthcare facilities specializing in cosmetic surgery, dental care and eye care in Taiwan have planned to customize their services for international customers.
The seven hospitals and clinics — Universal Eye Center, Dianthus Medical Group, Taipei Beitou Health Promoting Hospital, Purple Sun Clinic, TDI Dental Clinic, Doctors’ Doctor Clinic and Yuanli Clinic — have partnered up with TAITRA to attract foreign clients.
To ensure credibility, the Taiwanese government has established a national healthcare appraisal system to certify hospitals intending to satisfy international standards.
In 2018, there were about 480 hospitals across the country, 15 were Joint Commission International accredited and therefore qualified to provide treatment for international patients. But the country’s rigorous effort to become a global player has met a hindrance: local laws forbid healthcare providers from advertising their services.
This contradiction was also raised by YR Chen, a senior orthognathic surgeon at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. He said that if Taiwan did not have the restriction, the country’s cosmetic surgery reputation could be on par with South Korea’s.
One major challenge that Taiwan may face in its southbound policy is tough competition from the numerous big players in the region: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and India — not to mention its closer neighbors South Korea and mainland China.
