The government has considered developing improved health facilities to
give Indonesians who often go abroad for medical treatment, better choices at
home.
This year, around 600,000 Indonesians
have spent US$1.4 billion on medical treatment overseas.
With more people traveling abroad
for medical treatment, there is an opportunity to develop health tourism here
in the country to spur the economy.
“It’s quite significant. A
well-established health tourism industry can bring in revenue not only from
foreign health tourists but also from our people who used to travel abroad to
seek medical treatment,” Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka
Pangestu said at an international conference on Thursday.
She added that traditional
medical treatment could also attract foreigners who are seeking homeopathic
therapies. This potential, however, has not been tapped.
“Many things, such as diverse
cultures and tradition, including traditional healthcare and medicine, may
attract health tourists. But, lots of work needs to be done to facilitate the
successful development of health tourism in this country,” she said.
The number of Indonesians seeking
medical treatment abroad this year saw a significant increase from 2006 when
nearly 350,000 people went overseas and spent $500 million.
During the conference, the Health
Ministry and the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry signed an agreement for
the development of health tourism, which is now considered one of the engines
for economic growth in the Asia Pacific.
Under the agreement signed by
Mari and Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi, the government will work with its public
and private stakeholders, including hospital representatives, spa providers,
and health associations, to create the Indonesia Wellness and Healthcare
Tourism (IWHT) working team, which will jointly design a work plan to follow up
the agreement.
Health tourism is growing rapidly
in the region. Thailand earned $3.2 billion in 2011 from their health tourism
industry. Globally, it is estimated that each country can earn about $100
billion per year from health tourism.
According to a global survey
conducted by McKinsey in 2008, 40 percent of patients went abroad to seek
medical treatment for reasons related to medical technology and 32 percent of
patients sought quality health care services.
Nafsiah said that wellness spas
offering traditional treatments had huge potential to boost the health tourism
industry. Two well-known Indonesian spa treatment methods, namely Java spa and
Bali spa, are actually the most commonly used spa methods in countries
throughout the world.
Elly Burhaini Faizal
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