Medical tourism market booming
SA remains popular destination for treatments
ALOT has changed in the field of medical tourism, which Lorraine Melville has been part of for almost 20 years.
Numerous new players have emerged in an industry in which her company, Surgeon & Safari – an independent medical health facilitator – used to offer surgery for overseas patients looking for someone else to take over the management of the nitty gritty of their operations and recuperation planning.
Private healthcare and plastic surgeons have expanded their cosmetic surgery offerings – and businesses such as Melville’s, which once offered only cosmetic surgery safaris in South Africa, have had to diversify their offerings to stay competitive.
What hasn’t changed, however, is the market for it, which Melville says is still booming.
Medical tourism can be defined as the arrangement of a journey abroad for medical reasons. These might include undergoing a medical procedure in another country, or restoring/ maintaining health in any other way.
The main reason many people choose to engage in medical tourism is the lower cost or higher quality of medical treatments that are available in the country of their choice.
Typical medical tourism visits include a treatment, recovery time, and the option of an extended vacation.
“When I started, my focus was on the cosmetic surgery offering in South Africa. Initially, I formed alliances and chose top private hospitals, and also had alliances with the tourism sector. At the time, I used The Westcliff, but I’ve ended up setting up my own private seven-room guesthouse as my business has evolved to case management,” she said.
Case management in medical tourism means that service providers such as Melville provide options for patients to select the best or most cost-effective medical plans offered by medical providers, also ensuring that patients get timely and proper medical care.
According to Melville, one of the big changes in the industry is that rather than partner with the likes of Melville, plastic surgeons have now designed their own websites to attract clients and have basically cut out the middleman.
And even case management, she says, is a growing and profitable sector.
“For instance, I had a client whose medical bill was R11 million – it’s a big business that the private sector wants to tap into. There is a big emerging middle class. During apartheid, South Africa wasn’t a hot destination, but now people value the experience this side and there is awesome private care,” she said.
According to Medical Tourism SA, also a medical tourism service provider, their clients come from all over Africa, particularly for reproductive tourism, which is popular here due to the availability of egg donors.
However, many of their clients also come from the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Elective plastic or cosmetic surgeries (including breast augmentation, rhinoplasty and liposuction) and fertility treatments are generally the most popular among their clients, followed by cosmetic dentistry, ophthalmic and orthopaedic procedures, as well as a range of others.
Further, according to the company, the main reason for the low cost of medical treatment in South Africa is the weakness of the rand. For instance, breast augmentation costs around R105 000 in the UK, but only about R47 000 in South Africa. Minor treatments, such as Botox injections, can be even cheaper – R4 000 in the UK versus R900 in South Africa.
Due to the influx of patients, the Medical Tourism Association of South Africa opened a web portal in 2013 as a platform to show what the country had on offer in the field to position the country as a premier destination for healthcare.
According to MediClinic, of the 9.2 million tourists who visit South African each year, more than 500 000 do so for medical reasons. In just six years, the number of South Africa-bound medical tourists has almost doubled – and could still increase significantly.
“I came into this business as a single mother-of-two. And I continue in this industry not only because it is my livelihood, but because I feel blessed to have found my calling in life. It has become my everything,” Melville said.