Exploiting the potential of traditional medicine

759960922686285835 (1) — Medicinal tourism is an important part of medical tourism. Photo: PT

Exploiting local potential and advantages

At the National Conference on Medical Tourism Associated with Sustainable Development recently held in Lam Dong, experts commented that Vietnam's outstanding strength is traditional medicine. The State has had many policies to develop traditional medicine, combined with modern medicine to create a comprehensive medical examination and treatment system.

In Da Nang city, a series of model points for health care tourism using traditional medicine as well as a series of model points for medicinal herb growing areas in localities with tourism potential are beginning to be implemented. Mr. Van Ba Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that community tourism spots in mountainous areas currently focus on exploiting indigenous cultural values with advantages in medicinal herb resources.

In recent years, tourism products associated with health care have begun to receive investment, exploitation and create highlights for tourists. Not only in the mountains, many destinations in the plains are looking to exploit traditional medicine to attract tourists. From activities at Tak Ngo Ginseng Garden and some ginseng gardens in Nam Tra My to health recovery activities, herbal foot baths, physical therapy, meditation, yoga... in Hoi An and coastal accommodation facilities.

Travel experts say that in terms of natural and local resources, Da Nang city is quite diverse. From the Nui Than Tai Hot Spring Park in the Ba Na - Nui Chua conservation area, providing onsen, mud bath, and spa services, it is considered an ideal natural foundation for "retreat - mineral bath - light physical therapy" packages...

Ngoc Linh ginseng area and its landscapes are attracting a large number of tourists. Photo: CP

Need a systematic strategy

Meanwhile, Tra Que vegetable village (Hoi An Tay ward) is considered a "herbal barn", currently having many tourism models combining herbal foot bath - acupressure - herbal tea experiences, suitable for recovery activities. Not to mention, Tra Que has just been honored by UN Tourism as the best tourist village in the world, which will increase the brand value of herbal-based health care products.

Nam Tra My region also has the "medicinal symbol" Ngoc Linh ginseng, with its annual festival and monthly ginseng market, which are valuable materials to design medicinal experience routes such as visiting ginseng gardens, learning about extracts and local culture.

Nowadays, non-drug therapies (acupuncture, qigong, yoga) or traditional medicine treatments are gradually becoming known to domestic and foreign tourists. However, according to experts, to maintain and develop this national essence into a form of tourism combined with medical treatment, a more systematic strategy is needed.

The representative of Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital said that medical tourism using traditional medicine has the opportunity to become a special tourism product. Because of the attractive, unique, original factors as well as the natural tourism resources and cultural values that traditional medicine possesses, it not only satisfies the need to explore, experience, and enjoy health care for tourists but also creates an impression by its uniqueness and creativity compared to other common or ordinary tourism products.

Local resource potential combined with appropriate investments will contribute to the sustainable development of medical tourism.

Great opportunity for sustainable development

Both landscape resources and medical infrastructure have initially met the tourism development trend. However, Da Nang still has some bottlenecks that need to be resolved to soon reach the goal of becoming a “medical tourism destination” in the region.

Ms. Le My Nga, representative of WeAngels Innovation Capital: Application of smart medical technology

Innovation in the healthcare industry, applying smart healthcare technologies to improve service quality and customer experience is essential. This requires human resources capable of absorbing and mastering new technologies.

Linking the healthcare sector and tourism units is also a big challenge. Medical tourism is the intersection between the healthcare system and the tourism ecosystem, requiring multi-disciplinary coordination between healthcare, hotels, transportation, information technology and insurance finance.

Mr. Le Tan Thanh Tung, Deputy General Director of Vitraco Travel - Event - Transportation Company: Build the right product packages

Da Nang City has advantages in rich tourism resources, suitable climate for health care tourism, modern medical infrastructure, precious medicinal resources; workers in the tourism and health care industry are hard-working and diligent; medical examination and treatment costs are relatively low.

Da Nang needs to develop medical tourism service packages that are suitable for potential customers and the city's advantages such as: long-term retirement - vacation packages for international tourists; beauty care combined tourism packages targeting Korean, Chinese, and Thai tourist markets; high-end general health check-up packages combined with vacations for ASEAN and overseas Vietnamese tourists... and product packages for domestic tourists such as health tourism packages for the elderly, medical check-up packages combined with vacations for families...

Mr. Vo Phu Nong - Director of BIMECA Medicinal Herbs Import-Export Company: Medicinal herb tourism is a trend.

More and more, people with high economic conditions want to go to places to relax and restore their health, instead of going to crowded tourist areas for entertainment.

We once went to Nam Tra My to survey the location for investing in a medicinal plant conservation center associated with tourism. When the experts arrived, they were all amazed by the potential this place had for developing related fields. Everything in Nam Tra My is still quite wild, the people's awareness of forest protection is good; meanwhile, tourists, especially Western tourists, really like this environment.

Mr. Rafi Kot, Founder and CEO of private clinic system Family Medical Practice Vietnam: Medical staff need to communicate in English with foreign patients

In Thailand, doctors can communicate fluently in English with foreign patients. Therefore, if Vietnam wants to attract more foreign tourists for medical tourism, it needs to improve the foreign language skills of medical staff instead of depending on interpreters.

Not only doctors but also the entire healthcare system such as nurses, caregivers, service providers, hospital staff, etc. need to communicate in English with foreign guests. English is considered one of the international languages in medicine, which is a key factor when wanting to bring medical tourism to countries around the world.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/khai-thac-tiem-nang-y-duoc-co-truyen-3301381.html