The Importance Of Medical Tourism

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1 Introduction

Medical tourism is defined as “the process of travelling outside one’s country of residence for the purpose of receiving medical care” (Mestrovic, 2014). Medical care, in Singapore’s context, refers to health screenings as well as exclusive surgical procedures in specialised areas such as cardiology, neurology and organ transplants.

In other words, medical tourists travel for the following reasons: affordability, seeking better access to care or a higher level of quality of care. According to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore is labelled as Asia’s leading destination in medical care. In 2013, it saw a revenue of SGD$832 million and in 2014, it is ranked first for having the most efficient healthcare system by Bloomberg, …show more content…

Political instability, economic and social issues are not a worry (STB, 2016). The following are several factors believed to be the key elements of Singapore’s success in this field:

2.1 Expert Medical Practitioners
The heart which pumps life in this industry is its people. The professionalism as well as a highly proficient medical workforce is the fuel needed to propel this industry to greater distances and coupled with sound policies to navigate it in the right direction. Singapore’s medical practitioners are to be actively involved in the mandatory Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme administered by the Singapore Medical Council, a statutory board under the Ministry of Health. This programme which was implemented on 1st January 2003, has the aim of keeping medical practitioners abreast with medical advances; hence a constant relevance to the ever changing time and …show more content…

This essential medium is a world class infrastructure. In 2009, Singapore was acknowledged in the World Competitiveness Yearbook as the world’s 4th best healthcare infrastructure by Economic Development Board (EDB, 2016). A very good example to support this claim is the development of Connexion, Singapore’s first integrated medical hub comprising of Farrer Park Medical Centre, Farrer Park Hospital, One Farrer Hotel & Spa and Owen Link, a lifestyle retail avenue. Combining both healthcare and hospitality, Connexion has brought up medical tourism by a notch, giving visitors full experience of both elements under one roof. Furthermore, as it is built directly above Farrer Park Mass Rapid Transit MRT Station, it enables easy access to

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