IWHTA is delighted to share the highlights of 'International Medical Tourism and Travel 2010' conference Day 2,that took place in Singapore on 2nd March 2010. The conferences attracted speakers and participants from USA, Middle East, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. The participants were hospitals CEOs, Medical Directors, Marketing Executives, Government Representatives, Professors, Consultants and Doctors. IWHTA was the supporting organization and the official online media partner for IMT&T 2010. Here is the highlights of the Day-1 sessions:
Dr. Tshepo Maaka
Dr. Tshepo Maaka, Medical Director of Serokolo Health Tourism.
A very well organized case study was presented by Dr. Tshepo Maaka, Medical Director of Serokolo Health Tourism, South Africa. "Carving out an unusual niche to capture a share of the "Medical Safari" market" was her topics. Her more than 6 years of experience in developing Medical Travel industry in south Africa was the key factor behind this.
Prof Dr Aw Tar Choon Chairperson, Day - 2
Prof Dr Aw Tar Choon, Senior Consultant, Changi General Hospital.
Chairman for Day - 2 was Prof Dr Aw Tar Choon, Senior Consultant and widely travelled speaker, He "shared the importance of laboratory in Hospital services." He considered investment in the pre analytical processes as the best one and favored pneumatic tube transfer of samples in big hospitals. He showed how any laboratory can achieve success by proper design and tools. His neutral opinion on many topics showed his vast experience in this field.
Dr. Jacob Thomas
Dr Jacob Thomas, Group medical Advisor for Sime Darby Health.
Dr. Jacob Thomas, Group medical Advisor for Sime Darby Health and President of Associaiton of Private Hospitals Malaysia, did presentation on 'Procuring the state of the art medical devices and equipments- the driving forces in medical technology'. He explained success of Sime Darby Health - Malaysia through different aspects and discussed what to look for when adding equipment to your healthcare facility. He stressed on need, type of service/location, Ability to overcome, timing, appropriateness/utilization, impact on medical travel and patient outcomes as the decision making factors. He also explained importance of negative return investments like Da Vinci robotic surgery, High Field iMRI and Proton Beam Therapy.
Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara
Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara, Hospital Director of Bangkok Phuket Hospital.
Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara, Hospital Director of Bangkok Phuket Hospital, Thailand discussed 'Collaborating with medical tourism facilitators to create comprehensive and customized medical travel packages'. He shared Bangkok Hospital phuket's strategies to develop and train medical tourism facilitators through training in SOPs, Medical Terminology etc. He also shared growth of his hospital through increase number of international patients and what extra mile they go in terms of providing services to their patients. He said our hospital has a new cloth and look advisory who help patients to look better after weight loss surgery which was very unique in this industry.
Dr. Kostas I. Papadopoulos
Dr. Kostas I. Papadopoulos, CEO of Thai StemLife.
At the end of the conference Dr Kostas I. Papadopoulos, CEO of THAI StemLife, Thailand presented on Tapping "stem cell medical tourism" to take advantage of the growing significance of marrow transplants.
Message from IWHTA President.....
Naresh Jadeja, President.IWHTA.
Overall it was a very good, unbiased conference with widely experienced speakers and provided very good networking opportunities for participants. Everyone was happy to be a part of this growing industry and wanted to find and try new innovative ways to promote medical travel in their country/hospital. Debate over the use of world 'Medical Tourism' is still going on and time will tell its fate. IWHTA will keep supporting medical travel conferences and exibitons like this in future in order to strengthen ties and intensify collaborative efforts with other healthcare related organizations to undertake a major industry renovation and ultimately advance the healthcare travel industry.
International Wellness and Healthcare Travel Association
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