Singapore no more medical tourism hub?

 17-Oct-16, Asian News Network

Singapore's ambitions to become a healthcare hub appear to be receding quietly. The region's well-heeled medical tourists are looking elsewhere for treatment, meaning that local players have had to extend their reach abroad.

Image: The Straits Times

According to the Singapore Tourism Board, medical tourism receipts stood at SGD1.1 billion in 2012, dropped to SGD832 million the following year, before going up slightly to SGD994 million in 2014. 

In Singapore, a relatively low-cost total hip replacement surgery at a private hospital would set a patient back around SGD14,000. The same procedure at Mahkota Medical Centre in Malaysia - which treats more than 80,000 foreign patients a year - costs the equivalent of only SGD8,800.

"There is a growing trend of international patients coming to Singapore for complex medical treatment," said Dr Kelvin Loh, CEO of Parkway Pantai's Singapore division, adding that its ability to handle such cases has drawn patients from new markets such as China and India.

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