HCMC’s health and tourism departments will join forces to promote medical tourism in the city in the coming time, as data from hospitals in the city show that the demand of international visitors for health services here is high.

Foreign patients receive medical services at Van Hanh General Hospital in HCMC

Cho Ray Hospital received nearly 1,200 foreign patients in 2014, including more than 900 from developed countries such as the U.S., Australia, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

Meanwhile, about 18,000 Cambodians and 1,000 others from Europe, Asia, the U.S. and Australia come to the University Medical Center HCMC for medical examinations and treatments a year. The hospital has also provided inpatient treatments for nearly 6,000 foreigners since 2008.

Similarly, FV Hospital has more than 20,000 patients from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as well as a large number of patients from the U.S. and Africa a year.

According to the HCMC Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Association, about 500 foreigners visit Tu Du, An Sinh and Van Hanh hospitals a year for infertility treatment.

Many foreign tourists complained that they waste a lot of time planning their trips to Vietnam for medical treatment due to little information and the absence of medical tours.

The Department of Health said the city will integrate five medical services into tourism products, which are dentistry, traditional Vietnamese medicine, cosmetics, general health check-ups and disease screening.

A seminar to discuss the development of HCMC’s medical tourism will be held in early June to announce criteria of eligibility for hospitals and clinics to provide medical services. In addition, the two departments have plans to publish a handbook and a map of major hospitals in the city which may help tourists.

SGT