Proposed model for overloaded hospitals to still welcome medical tourists

On October 29 and 30, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism organized a delegation to survey health care models and services and resort tourism in Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau (old) to build high-quality medical tourism products to welcome guests at the end of the year.

Ms. Vo Ngoc Diep, Head of the Department of Tourism Accommodation Management, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that Vietnam currently welcomes about 300,000 international visitors for outpatient examination and 57,000 inpatient treatments each year, of which Ho Chi Minh City accounts for about 40%.

"Currently, the development of medical tourism products not only focuses on medical services but also combines resort experiences, cuisine, and local cultural and historical tours, creating a balanced journey between health care and tourism discovery," said Ms. Diep.

Doctor Do Tan Khoa, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Traditional Medicine, shares about the "soft hospital" model and the prospects for developing medical tourism.

This survey program has the participation of many medical facilities such as Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Traditional Medicine, Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital, and Hanh Phuc Hospital.

The delegation also visited the health care service model and experienced wellness tourism - Minera Hot Springs Binh Chau.

Mr. Le Trong Thien, Head of Sales Department, Vinagroup Tourism Company, a member of the survey team, said that the company is promoting inner-city tourism products in Ho Chi Minh City - including medical tourism.

The company has welcomed several international delegations to Ho Chi Minh City to visit the medical tourism model and the guests were very excited about products such as acupuncture, acupressure, massage - health care...

However, although medical products have a lot of development potential, the connection between hospitals and travel businesses is still loose, services are not synchronized... causing the potential of medical tourism to not be properly exploited.

The demand for tourism products that combine health care, therapy, and learning about traditional medicine is very large.

Speaking to a reporter from the Lao Dong Newspaper , Dr. Do Tan Khoa, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Traditional Medicine Hospital, said that there needs to be a close connection between hospitals and tourism businesses in developing medical tourism products. The hospital ensures expertise, while tourism businesses organize operations and design experiences. If this model is done well, Ho Chi Minh City can form "healing - relaxing - regenerating" tourism packages.

"In particular, Ho Chi Minh City can study and build a "soft hospital" model - that is, expanding service space through cooperation and joint ventures between hospitals and other units, resorts and accommodation facilities. This will help overcome the overload of the health system and create conditions for tourists to use services in the best environment. To do so, it is necessary to have synchronous policies and detailed development plans that are methodically and scientifically built" - Dr. Do Tan Khoa proposed.