The HCM Medical University Hospital usually treats between 1,000 to 15,000 overseas Vietnamese and foreign patients every year, mostly in the departments of heart, gastroenterology, nerve or plastic surgery.
(Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Nguyen M., a 61 year-old overseas Vietnamese
from Sweden, typically received treatment for his heart disease in Europe. But
on a recent trip to Vietnam, persuaded by the qualifications of Vietnamese
doctors and the low cost of treatment here, he decided to schedule a coronary
intervention at University Medical Hospital HCM City (UMH).
M. is one of many international visitors treated at UMH: the hospital usually
treats between 10,000 to 15,000 overseas Vietnamese and foreign patients every
year, mostly in the departments of heart, gastroenterology, nerve or plastic
surgery. In September, the centre established an international clinic with
modern facilities, exclusively for foreign patients.
Now, local officials are hoping to build on this momentum and expand the number
of international visitors who come to HCM City for medical treatment. On
October 12th, HCM City Department of Health (DoH) and Department of Tourism
(DoT) officially signed a memorandum of understanding on medical tourism
implementation.
They established an interdisciplinary agency to promote health care services to
foreign tourists, firstly with the “Medical Tourism Handbook” to be published
by the end of 2017.
The handbook will provide patients with names, addresses and phone numbers of
medical facilities and services around the city.
In the first phase of their cooperation, the DoH prioritises eight fields
ranging from general health consultation and check-ups to traditional medicine
to ear-nose-throat care.
Seeing the potential of medical tourism, 11 medical facilities have registered
to offer those services including Tu Du Hospital, HCM City Children’s Hospital,
HCM City Dentistry Hospital and UMH.
After the pilot period, the two departments plan to expand the cooperation into
other fields, aiming to turn HCM City into the medical centre of the region.
HCM City has several competitive advantages. With high-quality public and
private hospitals, skilful physicians, advanced technologies and low cost of
treatment, the city’s hospitals have recently acquired a strong reputation for
infertility treatment, traditional medicine and acupuncture at reasonable
prices in comparison to regional and Western countries.
According to Nguyen Viet Anh, head of the Travel Management Department under
DoT, medical tourism in Vietnam is still humble compared to India, Thailand or
Singapore. Foreign patients are mostly Lao or Cambodian, or overseas
Vietnamese.
Le Hanh, head of HCMC Society of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, emphasised the
need for the participation of travel agencies in promoting medical tourism.
Le Quang Thanh, Director of Tu Du Hospital, stressed that travel agencies can
coordinate and deliver foreign patients to hospitals to save patients time and
money.
Meanwhile, Phan Dinh Hue, Director of VietCircle Travel Agency, said that they
were aware of the city’s medical tourism potential.
However, foreign tourists still have concerns about Vietnamese treatment
quality and tend to choose only services related to skin or beauty care.
Therefore, improving and professionalising medical services is the key for
hospitals to attract more tourist patients.
In addition, Nguyen Minh Quyen from Ben Thanh Travel Agency said that treatment
quality and safety should be prioritised to reduce risks in this industry.-VNS/VNA