Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Eye clinic eyes medical tourists, needs gov't marketing support
A PRIVATE eye clinic is eyeing foreign medical tourists as its next major market if the government continues to help medical tourism players promote Cebu to other countries.
The Associated Cebu Eyes Specialists (Aces) Eye Referral Clinics said, though, it had treated medical tourists.
But the seven-member team of eye specialists raised the problem of “easy access” and getting the people in countries like Australia, Japan, and Korea more informed about their existence in Cebu.
Aces believe that promoting itself outside the country would entail a lot of investment. But tapping foreign markets would be easier with government support, the group said, citing the efforts of the Thai Government in promoting Thailand’s medical tourism facilities.
“Here, we don’t have that (much investment) because we have other pressing problems. So we promote on our own. Considering our limited resources, it is understandable that medical tourism in Cebu is not yet fully developed. But we believe that this is just a matter of time,” said Dr. Teodoro Gonzales, a glaucoma specialist at Aces, in a press conference last week.
Perception
He said the global perception of Cebu being less-developed than Manila may also be a factor that prevented the growth of medical tourism in the province.
“Cebu, being a small island outside Manila, is perhaps sometimes erroneously perceived to be less sophisticated or up-to-date. This (perhaps) makes medical tourists go to Bangkok, Singapore and Manila and (skip) Cebu and its cutting edge medical products and services,” he said.
“(I hope) more and more medical tourists will find out that it is actually a good idea to come to Cebu, have a vacation, and have their eyes treated here,” he said.
Aces doctors said they are willing to partner with travel and tourism agencies to accommodate more foreign medical tourists.
Aces, which will turn 12 years next month, targets young people who are conscious about their looks. These people, added Gonzales, are more receptive and less afraid of technology because of their constant exposure to them.
Last week, the local clinic unveiled its CustomVis Pulzar Z1, a refractive laser designed specifically for custom surgery, which costs “millions of pesos” (not dollars, as earlier reported). The Pulzar is a patented solid-state technology that does not require the use of toxic gases.
Apart from the overseas Filipino workers and their Cebu-based families, Aces chief executive officer Dr. Reuben Aquino said that another huge market for Aces are those who have had surgery done by other specialists and are not satisfied by the results.
“Standards of vision have improved over the years, such as those who have been operated with cataracts a decade ago have certain resulting refractive errors which can be treated with our laser. Our machine is also capable of analyzing complicated problems that resulted from previous laser surgeries,” explained Dr. Ronald Rellosa Medalle, an oculoplastic surgeon at Aces. (NRC)
