Improving medical infrastructure and low treatment cost is attracting foreign medical tourists to Asia, translating into a strong growth for the Asian medical tourism market.

RNCOS has released a report on the Asian medical tourism industry – “Asian Medical Tourism Analysis (2008-2012)”- which says that Asia represents the world’s most potential medical tourism market. The region accounted for nearly 12.7% of the global market and generated US$ 3.4 Billion revenues in 2007. The market is anticipated to remain strong in future too, registering a CAGR growth of 17.6% during 2007-2012.

According to the report, the medical tourism market has been hitting it big due to improving healthcare infrastructure in the region. Countries, particularly India, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, are successfully meeting the demand for quality healthcare through world-class medical infrastructure and trained medical professionals, including tertiary hospital care. Most of the medical professionals in these countries are trained in world-class institutions abroad. Hence, hospitals provide foreign patients highly qualified, board-certified physicians, medical technicians, and top-tier nursing staff, together with highly personalized care. As a result, the success rate of complicated surgeries and patient satisfaction is very high.

Another important factor pushing up the medical tourism in the Asian countries is low cost, says the report. Treatment cost in the Asian countries is very low against the developed countries. For instance – it ranges from one half to one-fifth of the prices in the US and other developed countries. Moreover, in some cases, the treatment cost is as less as 80% of the cost abroad. However, it depends on the destination country and the type of procedure to be performed.