Medical tourism skyrockets and cheers up hospitals
DCI
Hospitals and clinics of excellence in the Brazilian market, mainly in São Paulo city, have felt an increase in the demand of treatments for foreign patients, sort of businesses that should generate more than US$ 100 billion in the world this year, according to informal estimates of the hospital system. For specialists, last year the market was already heated when the search from foreign patients for qualified and cheaper options represented more than US$ 60 billion in expenditure worldwide.
Today, "medical tourism" also warms up the Brazilian market and attracts the interest of companies like Plastic Surgery and Aesthetics Clinic of Dr. Luciana Pepino, which expects to receive 20% more foreign tourists this year. According to the owner of the clinic that takes her name, 80% of the public who comes to Brazil to perform aesthetic treatments is made up of women and they are mostly from European countries such as England, France, Germany and Portugal. "The news is that now the sector of medical tourism has to get better prepared to receive such demand from foreigners", commented Luciana.
In the area of medical treatment, hospitals have seen the segment emerge and had to adapt their space and services to cater to the foreign public. At the Heart Hospital (HCor) the actions taken seem to have given results and the undertaking estimates growth of up to 60% in the flow of patients coming from abroad this year; in 2009, the hospital registered growth of 40% in this type of service, compared to data of 2008.
For over 10 years in the segment, the Albert Einstein Israeli hospital received more than 4.5 thousand foreign patients last year. According to the President of the Albert Einstein Brazilian Israeli Beneficial Association, Claudio Luiz Lottenberg, the number of foreign patients undergoing treatments at the Albert Einstein presents average growth of 15%. "Patients coming from Latin America and Angola seek us for the excellence in the service, ease of language and nearness. As for patients coming from North America and Europe, they are mostly people who moved to Brazil less than a year ago".