The business is still in its trial period, Beijing MJ Health Screening president Jack Tai (戴明哲) said, adding that three more medical tourist groups from Beijing would travel to Taiwan in the next three months.
“In future, we hope there will be a group of more than 30 members visiting Taiwan each month,” Tai said.
Leu Jyh-gang (呂至剛), chief of Shin Kong Hospital’s department of health management, said he was confident that Taiwan could tap into increasing health demand in China.
He said Taiwan had 30 PET scanners nationwide, two of which are owned by Shin Kong and cost around NT$60 million each. Beijing has four scanners out of a total of 40 in all of China.
Coming to Taiwan would mean easier access and less waiting time for potential patients, while Taiwanese prices are lower, he said.
More importantly, Leu said, Taiwanese doctors have greater expertise in reading scan results, which are pointless if misinterpreted.
Shin Kong Hospital’s scanners have helped detect cancer in more than 300 patients, or 1.3 percent of its total 28,000 patients since 2001, “all of whom are still alive as a result of early [detection and] treatment,” Leu said.
Moreover, the hospital reserves 20 scan slots per month for patients from abroad.
In addition to PET and other health checks, Taiwan’s medical services should be able to outperform other regional rivals in attracting tourists seeking micro cosmetic surgery, liver transplants, heart surgery and artificial joint replacements, said Mark Lee (李孟鴻), director of Jen Chi Hospital’s (仁濟醫院) dialysis center, which has been supporting tour trips by visiting dialysis patients.
In the case of Japanese tourists, dental implant surgery or Chinese medicine packaged with hot-spring treatments for a reasonable price are very attractive, Allen Lee said.
But local hospitals are lagging behind in terms of international marketing and resources to develop the industry, Mark Lee said. This, combined with tight regulations, poses a hurdle to the medical tourism sector, he said.
As the medical services sector is considered non-profit, government regulations bar hospitals from advertising their prices to attract foreign clients.
To appeal to potential medical tourists abroad, authorities need to loosen restrictions on advertising, Mark Lee said, adding that Taiwan must also simplify the visa application process for medical tourists.
Chen Shee-han (陳興漢), director of the international health center at Taoyuan-based Min-Sheng Healthcare Hospital (敏盛醫療), said hospitals were sending mixed signals by promoting medical services abroad without making the competitiveness of their prices known.
Min-Sheng is the first Joint Commission International accredited hospital in Taiwan, specializing in knee replacements. The procedure costs approximately one-fifth of the price in the US.
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