Medical tourism 'raises healthcare standards'

Besides its obvious economic benefit, medical tourism improves the quality of local healthcare, according to Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joseph Cassar.

He argued that the increase in patient numbers brought about by medical tourism helped attract and keep the medical expertise needed.

"We are not merely pursuing the development of health tourism from the economic point of view; it also plays an important part in ensuring sustainable healthcare provision for the Maltese," he said.

The development of medical tourism could also serve as a financial incentive for Maltese specialists overseas to consider returning and offering their services locally.

Addressing a conference on the subject at the Hilton yesterday, Dr Cassar said attracting foreign patients to Maltese healthcare would indirectly also exert pressure on the industry to set higher standards and better prices.

"As a result of this continuous effort to improve quality, Maltese patients will indirectly benefit from heightened standards of care," he said.

The private sector had embraced this challenge and some providers were working hard to obtain full-scale international accreditation - the industry standard for guaranteed quality care.

The sector was already demonstrating that it was geared to attract larger numbers of healthcare tourists for services such as dental treatment and cosmetic surgery, which do not normally fall within standard European healthcare packages and in which Malta could compete favourably on both quality and price.

Dr Cassar said that, while the public sector was also well positioned to attract medical tourism, receiving regular requests from interested parties, the government has committed itself first to modernise Mater Dei Hospital's management and operational systems.

"It is only by working more efficiently that we can free up the necessary capacity to develop quality medical tourism," he said. Its niche medical tourism would be developed in highly complex areas that might not be available in other countries and would be more expensive.

Mater Dei was already positioned to offer medical tourism in the field of cardiac surgery. The next major development would be in the area of cancer treatment with the setting up of a fully equipped oncology centre, Dr Cassar said.