Asia's medical hub no second to Europe

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

For Asians, healthcare services no longer requires travel to the Europe and spend inexhaustible sums of money. Today, Asia's leading medical hub, Singapore which accounts for one-third of all JCI-accredited facilities in Asia has proved a reliable and leading healthcare services hub.

The shows paradigm shifts from the stage-old phenomenon of seeking treatment in the UK or USA as well as attracting a growing number of international medical professionals and multinational healthcare workers and healthcare related companies to headquarters, train and share their expertise in Singapore; opening new vistas in the field of medical excellence in Asia.

Observations on the Singapore Public Health Services were made on hospital tours organized by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in collaboration with Singapore Health Services (SingHealth).

"Today, we see an increasing flow of patients crossing borders in search of better healthcare providers.The inexorable progress of medical travel brings with it tremendous challenges, and perhaps even the need for some changes.

While some call this medical tourism, I prefer the term 'Medical travel' in order that this be put in proper perspective and not to be equated to just another 'service industry'. I would like to look at it from the view of 'Medicine without Borders' - Care before Business were the sentiments of Prof. Tan Ser Kiat, Group CEO, Singapore Health Services (SGH).

"I chose to see medical travel as not simply a booming business sector in tourism but as an extension of the internationalization of medicine, just as globalisation is for other industries. This is a testament to the rising healthcare standards in Asia. In Singapore the hallmark of excellence in healthcare ensures high levels of competency, quality, safety and reliability", he added.

Dr. Jason C. H. Yap, Director, Healthcare Services, Singapore Tourism Board says in 2006 approximately 410,000 visitors out of the 9.7 million visitors to Singapore declared that their primary reason for coming to Singapore was for healthcare. They brought about 86,000 accompanying persons, parents, caregivers, family members or friends.

Singapore's healthcare services are excellent. Many South East Asian, Asian and 'world firsts' were developed and performed in Singapore".

Meanwhile, while medical travel is more a part of the healthcare industry than the tourist Industry, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has the expertise to facilitate the inbound travel of patients and therefore takes charge of international branding and marketing and the development of associated people-oriented services like local transport, accommodation and international patient liaison services.

Singapore was voted the best Medical Travel Destination by Travel Weekly in 2007; an acknowledgement of STB's work in international marketing. The STB also encourages medical conferences in Singapore.

The International Congress and Convention Association has ranked Singapore as the 'Convention city in Asia' and the second in the world for many years while more than a third of events held in Singapore are healthcare-related.

SingHealth, the largest healthcare group in Singapore; seven public hospitals, 17 private hospitals and six specialist national medical centres in Singapore which offer a complete range of multi-disciplinary and carefully integrated medical care which work through clinical excellence, commitment and collaboration which has contributed immensely to the increase in visitors to Singapore specifically for healthcare during the past 2-3 years.

An 86 per cent increase of healthcare visitors has been recorded during the past year and it is expanding its modern cancer treatment facilities presently.

The Singapore General Hospital's (SGH) established in 1821 is the public sectors flagship hospital under the wing of SingHealth Services; the country's oldest medical institution and speaks for its excellence in specialities like Haematology, Plastic surgery and burns, Nuclear Medicine, Pathology and Renal medicine.

It has also been established as a national referral centre enabling it to offer the most developed medical technology, the highest medical expertise and a large range of services in the country.

It is the seat of medical education and a centre of research for innovative treatments and medical breakthroughs. Moreover, the SGH is also the largest teaching hospital in Asia and the second largest in the world to be accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI).

Contributing to the public sectors healthcare services in Singapore is also the National Neuro-science Institute (NNI) the world's first state-of the-art digitally 'integrated neuro-science centre located at the (SGH); the leading specialist centre for cutting edge treatment, education and research in the neuro-sciences.

It sees the most number of neurological cases in Singapore and provides clinical services to Singapore General Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Changi General Hospital.

With the global increase of cancer patients in the recent past the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), the national and regional centre directed at the prevention and treatment of different cancers is designed to provide holistic patient-centred clinical services allowing cross-consultation among cancer experts of different specialialites.

Patients can hence enjoy personalized, prompt and customized cancer treatment recommended by a team of radiation, surgical and medical oncologist during the same visit.

Committed to women and children since 1924 is the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), the only integrated women's and children's hospital in Singapore which offers a full range of tertiary services in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Neonatology and Paediatrics and records approximately 64,000 inpatient admissions and over 416,000 outpatient visits.

The New Children's Cancer Centre one of South Asia's largest children's cancer centres at KKH geared to meet the increasing demand for Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants and provides an environment that is conducive for the best psychosocial care possible for patients and their parents.

The Cleft and Craniofacial Centre (CCRC) established to treat abnormalities of the head and face in children due to birth defects, trauma, tumour or inappropriate growth and development is yet another medical advancement worth mentioning.

The only acute care tertiary university hospital, The National University Hospital (NUH), the first hospital to receive JCI accreditation, an international benchmark for the delivery of patient care is highly regarded in clinical disciplines including cardiology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics and Spine surgery.

The one-stop-shop, Singapore's medical hub has thus become Asia's key healthcare service centre with many firsts and clinical milestones to its credit.

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