Forget Africa’s big game or unspoiled scenery. More and more foreign tourists are coming to South Africa for a little nip and tuck at the country’s private hospitals, with safari on the side.
Joy Kramel-Cox traveled 12 hours from London to undergo a tummy tuck, a nose job and eyelid surgery at a private Johannesburg clinic, which cost her about 154,000 rand (US$15,200).
“After a lot of research on the Internet, I settled for South Africa. I loved the rates and the recuperation deal offered to me,” the 54-year-old high school drama teacher said.
PHOTO: AFP
“It is no doubt that I would have paid more in my home country and I got a chance to see the country while recovering. I also liked the feeling of coming back home after a holiday and people notice more than just my tan,” said Kramel-Cox, mother to a 13-year-old boy.
Tour operators say luxury retreats in the popular Cape winelands, safari hideouts in the Kruger National Park region and secluded coastal resorts are favorite recuperation spots among foreign patients.
The long holiday lets them recover in seclusion, returning home only once the bandages are off.
“Medical safaris are a growing phenomenon, thanks to the country’s private hospitals that offer quality services that are on par with other hospitals in Europe,” said Lorraine Melvill, founder and owner of Surgeon and Safari in Johannesburg.
South Africa’s reputation for affordable, specialized medical care has steadily risen since the mid-1990s.
The handful of medical tourism companies are reporting an increased market share from both overseas and domestic patients.
Melvill said the patients receive extensive consultations before making the trip and their price tag includes flights, visas and accommodation as well as the hospital fees.
“A lot of Europeans choose five-star luxury lodges where they can have game drives and enjoy the African sun while recovering,” said Melvill, who also runs an exclusive hotel.
She said South Africa was competing with other emerging economies such as India, Malaysia, Brazil, Thailand and Costa Rica, which are already major players in medical tourism.
“South Africa is a long-haul destination, so we are facing stiff competition from other countries which are closer to Europe, but our medical service and our package deals make it worthwhile,” she said.
The lures of such lucrative private practice have raised fears that doctors and nurses will leave the public health system that serves ordinary South Africans to cater to wealthy foreigners.
But Melvill said medical tourism is becoming an important cottage industry for South Africa, drawing in patients from other parts of the continent that lack medical facilities.
Tshepo Maaka, founder of Serokolo Health Tourism, quit her full-time medicine practice five years ago to tap into the demand for medical safaris.
Maaka said the company receives an average of 20 inquiries a day, with most patients coming from Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia.
“We do not operate like normal travel agencies. We hire highly trained staff with medical profession backgrounds as consultants,” she said.
Her seven-day packages offer a selection of two surgical procedures such as lip enhancements, tummy tucks, eyelid surgery, facial laser resurfacing or liposuction at US$41,000, excluding the five-star hotel.
“Having your surgery done in South Africa is like killing two birds with one stone,” Kramel-Cox said. “You lose the flab and experience one of the most awesome safari escapades in the world.”
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2