Interviews

4.1.17 Process

In India, patients receive a portfolio of their medical file and surgery administrative documents that will include transparent assessments of cost, medical risk outcomes data, and operative notes that they wish to take back to their home country. This is provided as part of the inclusive services and in the language of the patient.

4.1.18 Other

Hospitals equipped with world-class treatment options that combine herbal and holistic healing techniques form a perfect blend of traditional and modern care in India. The country’s culture is quite friendly in Thailand. The doctors are UK-trained in Singapore because Singapore was British colony for many years. However, Taiwan provides a rich environment of alternative medicine such as traditional medicine and western medicine.

4.2 Interviews

According to the stated research purpose and review of literature, an outline of participant questions was designed for this study. An interview was adapted with one- by-one and respondents express their opinions regarding the present state of medical tourism in Taiwan.

According to the different industry representatives interviewed, interviewees were divided into four principal categories, as follows:

4.2.1 Professional Medical Practitioner

This portion of the interview data focuses on professional surgery. There is currently no relevant policy that links surgery and tourism, despite the fact that the government should already have the legislative and budgeting power to promote related policies. On the other hand, hospital facilities tend to cater to the domestic market constituency; it does not tend to foreigner visitors in Taiwan. The hospital’s architecture would have to be reconfigured to represent hotel-style building in terms of hardware, design and appearance. In addition, there would have to be a complete redefinition of social notions of privacy protection medical tourists. This is not currently the norm in Taiwan, where medical practices are carried out in public areas and with little concern for sensibilities outside of modesty. The hotel industry could lend a lot of expertise so that a plan might be adopted that stressed accommodation, comfort, and convenience. For example, the hospital reception lobby (using the medical tourism model) should be based on common floor-plans of five-star hotel reception areas. However, the Taiwanese hospital industry currently lacks of the world-class level of exclusive international medical clinics that give customers a separate consultation space (such as private VIP rooms).

In regards to professional personnel in hospital areas, nursing staff should be wearing traditional clothes when they provide consulting services with the spirit of service etiquette in the consulting room. In the planning and design of clinic should be to emphasize the privacy and confidentiality to meet western customer demands and to provide an adjoining visitors’ lounge for family and friends. 

In regards to language, the language skills and overall socio-cultural proficiency of the involved medical personnel is not currently up to international standards of professionalism, but the English language proficiency of most Taiwanese doctors is sufficient to communicate with their foreign patients on a reasonable basis.  

International medical tourists should select professional personnel with good service qualifications and high quality credentials. At the same time, medical staff has to make sure of the patients’ health situation before the medical service procedures are conducted, during the process of medical services, and after the process of medical services (i.e., during post-op recovery). This will greatly affect a differentiation of service value by potential medical tourists and their agents.  

General customers will feel the hospital environment is not to their liking and rather uncomfortable. This will lead to a general unwillingness to accept medical treatment, much less seek it out deliberately as a low-cost alternative to domestic health care service. In addition, whenever medical tourists will come to Taiwan, inquiry must follow numerous channels, so that hospitals and clinics should be able to set up a private inquiry center or VIP services that cater directly with the foreign patients in their own language.

4.2.2 Travel Agent

The national tourism bureau of Taiwan should sign a strategic alliance with the representative quality travel agencies, hotels and restaurants in order to promote the potential medical tourism industry left untapped. By planning to divide Taiwan into five top medical tourism districts, national and local governmental representatives may succeed in promoting, marketing , and planning with travel agents to provide medical tourism destination packages that would include international-standard hotels, successful incentives

of Taiwan's tourist industry characteristics, and a unique profile of the potential medical tourism customer.

However, in regards to marketing activities, the government has not done enough to

combine its own efforts with the possibilities of obtaining medical tourism revenues. There are no marketing strategies for travel by foreigners to Taiwan for purposes of medical tourism. This means that there are no target groups that have been specified to market.

There are many competitors for medical tourism revenues from other parts of Asia, especially from Korea and Thailand. These regions have already developed medical tourism for many years; for example, the plastic surgery craze in South Korea, which has been widely covered in the popular media, has showcased celebrities who had undergone a host of procedures. Korean television dramas have been veritable advertisements for the successful results of medical procedures available. The television dramas have been in people's minds throughout the region (Taiwan included), so that foreign publicity has overwhelmed the domestic message. The target market relates to what kind of customer base and market environment exists for competitors. The promotion of international medical tourism is such an important issue because the target customers hold the key to the success of medical tourism in Taiwan.

4.2.3 Insurance Agent

In developed countries worldwide, the United States is the only country without nationalized health insurance for its citizens. This leaves people to insure themselves through high-priced private insurance companies that nickel-and-dime every decision and second-guess doctors; diagnoses to the point of endangering the insured.

Premiums are expensive and pharmaceutical prices are exorbitant. The doctor is difficult to communicate with because of the extreme demand on his or her time. First, the insurance company allows patients to accept medical treatment in carrier-specified hospital, or no payment will be afforded. Second, unless the procedure or situation is warranted through emergency, patients must go to see the prescribing doctor; if the case involves complications, patients need to transfer the application issued by the attending physicians, and then the patient must see a doctor who is pre-approved by the insurance company to provide a second opinion. In addition, pharmaceuticals are expensive unless patients can resort to over-the-counter, homeopathic, generics or non-traditional remedies. The U.S.

prescription drug prices are among the highest in the world, so some people drive to the north to Canada to or south to Mexico to buy their prescribed medicines.

When Compared to United States, Taiwan’s insurance payment system is much less inexpensive. In 2002, the National Health Insurance Bureau implemented the budget policy that drastically affected the fate of the financial operations in Taiwanese hospitals. This initiative resulted in sweeping changes in the way hospitals operate. Additional innovation-oriented strategies must to be drawn up by hospitals to increase the scope of national health insurance coverage, to increase the number of health care items available at individual expense, and to immediately comply with the international medical market-oriented customer needs.

4.2.4 Government Officer

The monitoring role of the government is to promote medical tourism through the maintenance of qualifications. This includes certifications related to professional personnel, medical system, procedures of medical treatment and facilities of hospital so that government can retain standard. Taiwan maintains its own high quality of medical system

because many private hospitals received national accreditation and international accreditation system in order to ensure the quality of medical service and attractive medical tourist. We also have an excellent standard of medical service in Taiwan because professional personnel such as doctors and nurses have to receive medical education which is elite system in order to ensure doctor’s quality.

The health care costs are very inexpensive and international competitiveness compared with Europe, America, Japan and other countries. More than three million international tourist visit Taiwan every year in the domestic tourism industry. However, the government lack of bridge hospital and tourism industry.