Health tourism in the Philippines?

[AstonishiaInlimbo]

with many tourists visiting the philippines...there was a talk...sometime ago...about health tourism happening in the country.........about setting up care homes for the growing aging population of japan (because they said japan is so small, it's islands will have to displace their elderly to accomodate the growing industrialized working generation, something like that)....um, about focus on wellness and set ups of health spas for adults, kids, elderly, and use of the traditional healers ('hilot'?), alternative therapies....or people from all over the world coming to the philippines for surgeries, because it's just too expensive in other countries....

with this...there was talk about how the salary of the filipino nurse would become as competitive as other countries' offers, and that nurses should think twice before leaving the country because this will be like the next big thing...

to me, it's like such a good idea, but it's also like such a blur. i would like it that someday, though, it will happen...

[lawrence01]

It is a very good idea but PH has no infrastructure to do this as of the moment. They can start building-up now but it will be awhile before we catch up w/ the other ASEAN countries already doing this.

Singapore and Thailand may be the only ASEAN countries who are ripe to fully take advantage of this and they have been doing this for some time now. Having a reputable medical tourism industry takes time and it puzzles me that some politicians and PH Doctors make it seem easy to do or can be done instantly. No, it can't and they will suffer financially if they think they can do it in an instance. No business man will invest so much money to invest to something that is not proven yet unlike SG and TH. Every one in the world knows that the local HC industry has many problems, why would they come here? Of course there will always be exemptions; simple elective surgeries can easily be done professionally in PH. Other than that, they are better off going to SG or TH.