Singapore is one of the largest players in medical tourism followed by Philippines, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan. Singapore has specializations in the areas of cardiology, ophthalmology and oncology and also has a booming dental market. The country possesses a good human resource in form of highly qualified doctors and Singapore is also known for intricate procedures like heart surgeries.
Health Care Expenditure
Estimated health care expenditure: $15 billion in 2022
Health care as share of GDP: 4% (Jun 6, 2016)
Popular Treatment Options
Organ Transplants, Stem Cell Transplant.
Other high end procedures.
Achievements
- In 2021, Singapore was holding 30% medical tourism market in Asia
- It is the first nation to have the first MAGNET recognized hospital.
Private-sector savings and state run insurance funds are the major sources of Singapore’s spending on healthcare. In recent years government spending on healthcare has also risen sharply. The only drawback compared to its competitors is its costly medical services. To form a medical hub, Singapore incorporated amalgamation of both industry and government representatives.
The major challenges before the medical tourism is high service tax rate as tourists have to spend a lot of money on availing tourism related services like room for staying, food and liquor but in Singapore taxes are low in comparison to its neighboring countries. Its medical facilities are considered the finest in the world with the access of well qualified doctors and a well built infrastructure and even most of the hotel in Singapore have their own doctors on 24 hour call.
Although Southeast Asian countries spend only 3% of its GDP on healthcare in comparison to the US spending almost 18% but still Southeast Asian countries provide quality services at reasonable cost. The major driver leading to growth of healthcare in Singapore is “social emphasis”. The major players are Changi General Hospital and St Andrew’s Community hospital which have added around 280 acute hospital beds. Singapore is majorly focusing on improving current frameworks rather than coming up with new policies. There has been progress in manpower and infrastructure but still some areas need to be addressed like affordable world class facilities to its patients.