Singapore's greatest resource is a highly educated population. In the international health-care market, that is a priceless asset, as Andrew Baker explains
"Singapore is more than a centre of excellence in the healthcare sector. It is a regional powerhouse and an important international hub"
Every country that enters the market of travel for health care has their own reasons for doing so. In each case there has to be a strong talent base, a strong tradition of first-class medical training, and a commitment to the provision of state-of-the-art facilities.
Singapore has a proven record in each of these areas, and the commitment of Singapore to this sector is long-standing. The reason why travel for health and Singapore fit so well together is easily encapsulated. It is imperative that a nation that is geographically somewhat limited gets the most out of its human capabilities.
"Singapore has no hinterland, no minerals, and no resources other than its people," according to Dr Jason CH Yap, the Director of Healthcare Resources at the Singapore Tourist Board. "Ever since independence, Singapore has had to earn its keep through international trade. The dollars earned by providing healthcare services are simply part of the economic lifeblood of the country.
"Beyond the revenue from clinical services, patients and their traveling companions also spend on accommodation and transport, dine, relax and otherwise enjoy the excellent tourist destination that is Singapore."
It is instructive to broaden the view for a moment. Singapore is more than a centre of excellence in the healthcare sector. It is a regional powerhouse and an important international hub, a key player as the global balance of spending power tilts in the direction of south-east Asia.
As Dr Yap points out, "The quality of healthcare services in Singapore plays a significant role in making Singapore the choice of 7,000 multi-national companies headquartered here."
A leading light in the Singapore healthcare sector is
ParkwayHealth, which has three hospitals in Singapore: East Shore, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth. The company aims to provide comprehensive integrated healthcare to international patients, with a team of 300 highly qualified surgeons.
"They are experts in their respective fields and many are well-known regionally or internationally," according to Thomas Tay, group vice president for corporate communications at ParkwayHealth. "A majority of our surgeons have contributed research findings to reputable journals, presented papers at international congresses or trained other doctors."
The cosmopolitan credentials of the senior staff have encouraged the company to expand the breadth of its marketing effort. "Over the past few years, ParkwayHealth hospitals in Singapore are seeing an increasing proportion of international patients compared to local," said Tay.
"This trend will continue in the coming years due to the globalisation of healthcare services, as well as the opening of new air travel routes between Singapore and other countries, and the increasing affordability of air travel."
It is no coincidence that the first customer for the Airbus A380 double-decker airliner, the world's largest aircraft by passenger numbers, was Singapore Airlines. ParkwayHealth shares the global ambitions of the nation's flag carrier. "The company's vision is to be the global leader in value-based integrated healthcare," said Tay.
ParkwayHealth, according to Tay, is on a mission to offer its facilities and services to nations where the population feel a little let down by what their government's health services can provide.
"It is our calling to market our facilities and services in new countries where there are unsatisfied patient needs for quality healthcare and value medical travel," Tay said. "As we intensify our international market development with that objective, the UK beckons." Or is it Singapore that is beckoning the UK?
Potential patients who would like to respond to the advances of overseas healthcare can do so via the internet (useful website addresses can be found in this report), but many prefer to make their arrangements via agents.
Overseas Patient Services Ltd is a UK-based agent for hospitals and specialists in Singapore, Spain, France, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Belgium.
"The hospitals that we deal with are world-class," said Peter Baillie-Hamilton, OPS spokesman. "They have obtained the highest possible standard that would be expected within the USA. Our hospitals are five-star, but with three-star prices."
Agents can offer patients useful links. "In Singapore, our hospital has connections with government bodies and with their national carrier, Singapore Airlines. And we meet our clients airport-side, so that we can assist with any immigration procedures, allowing smooth passage."
Baillie-Hamilton also pointed out that health tourism is an increasingly crowded sector of the healthcare market, and that not all those institutions on offer are of the highest standard. But OPS is watchful. "We inspect our hospitals carefully before they are contracted in as partners," he explained. "We cherry-pick our surgeons according to the operation in question. All our hospitals are world-class and work with UK insurance companies who recognise them as such."
The National Healthcare Group (NHG) of Singapore is an institution that is proud of its credentials. "Our hospitals and medical centres benchmark themselves against world-class facilities globally, to improve our systems for safer practices and better outcomes in patient care," a spokesman said.
Clinical research is an essential part of clinical practice.
NHG is in the forefront of medical research and works closely with the National University of Singapore to facilitate research and mobilise resources.
"There are about 800 ongoing research projects in NHG," the spokesman said. "About 50 per cent of our doctors are involved in them. The work of many of our clinician-scientists is published in high-impact journals such as The American Journal of Psychiatry and Journal of the American Medical Association."
NHG also has a commitment to preventative medicine as well as a track record in intervention. The Group's vision of "Adding years of healthy life" adds to the noble cause of healing the sick the more difficult but also more rewarding task of preventing illness and preserving health and quality of life.
Back to Dr Jason CH Yap of the Singapore Tourist Board, who has written at length and with great lucidity of what he prefers to call "medical travel". "The forces that have levelled the business playing fields across the world, and made China and India the global software house and factory respectively, have turned their attention to healthcare," he said. "Historically, patients go to the clinic next door and the hospital in the city, but today they are willing to go much farther." To Singapore, in fact, from all over the world.
