South Africa currently earns about R270-million from medical tourism, said Dr Tshepo Maaka, the managing director of Serokolo Health Tourism.
Maaka said the country was increasingly being seen as a destination for medical tourism and cited factors such as its highly trained doctors and excellent medical care.
Speaking ahead of a medical tourism conference to take place in Johannesburg from November 23, Maaka said however there was a lack of government support, specifically from the Department of Health.
“We need recognition of medical tourism as an industry in South Africa and a process to look at policy formulation for medical treatment of international patients in the country.
“We also need the financial support to expose South Africa to the world as a medical tourism destination.”
“In India the industry has been successfully integrated into the mainstream economy and there are key lessons to be learnt from that experience.”
The Indian experience will be evaluated as a case study at the conference to glean experiential insights.
The conference will bring together experts from around the world who will give presentations linking medicine and tourism, and build a business case for the viability of the industry. ‒ I-Net Bridge