Philippines conducts health, wellness and medical tourism roadshow in US

Tacloban City  — In its effort to promote the Philippines as the newest medical tourism haven in Asia, the government has sent a delegation to conduct the Philippine Health and Wellness and Medical Tourism Roadshow in the United States.

Just recently, Consul General May Jo Bernardo Aragon of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, California hosted to a luncheon meeting, the delegation members who are in the United States to visit healthcare facilities to learn from the best practices of their counterparts and to promote the Philippines as the newest medical tourism destination in Asia.

Medical Tourism, a priority government program in the Philippine Medium-Term Development Plan, is under the Health and Wellness Sector of the Public-Private Partnership for Global Competitiveness, co-chaired by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The delegation visited leading healthcare facilities in California and New Mexico and held business meetings with Global Benefits Group Inc, the United Health Group and Planet Hospital. Global Benefits Group develops and implements benefit programs that include health insurance and retirement planning.

United Health group is a diversified health and well-being company which serves health care participants from individual consumers to care providers and medical device manufacturers, while Planet Hospital is a medical tourism company that assists clients in obtaining any kind of medical care in the US and abroad.

The delegation promoted the Philippines as a viable health and wellness center with world class yet affordable medical tourism programs and globally sought after medical practitioners. Recognizing these potentials, the American companies signified their intention to forge alliances with Philippine HMOs and healthcare providers, particularly for secondary and tertiary care.

The medical tourism and retirement clusters are working for the removal of insurance barriers and portability restrictions in the United States to allow American patients and retirees in the Philippines, continued coverage from their HMOs and the US Medicare system.

Medical tourism in the Philippines consists of medical care, health and wellness, traditional and alternative health care such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, virgin coconut oil, organic food, neutraceuticals and long-term tourism and international retirement health zones where foreign patients can recuperate, rehabilitate and retire. To complete the picture, the components of tourism and shopping have been added to increase the choices of tourists and bring in more.

Among the services that the country offers to foreigners are elective procedures such as cosmetic surgery, liposuction and dental surgery, and life-saving procedures such as coronary bypass surgery, kidney transplants and cancer treatment.

As testimony to the country’s advantages in medical tourism, a general checkup in the United States costs $5,000 while it will cost only the equivalent of $500 in the Philippines. Coronary bypass surgery, which clocks up $50,000 in the United States, will cost only $25,000 locally. And while kidney transplants can reach up to $150,000 abroad, it will only cost $25,000 here.

Even if the plane fare is added, trip to resort and a $100 gift certificate to add to their shopping money after they recover, the Philippine rate will still come out so much cheaper than having the surgeries abroad. (PIA