About 100,000 foreigners visit Vietnam every year for medical treatment, bringing more than 1 billion USD of revenue to local hospitals, according to an article published on the English language news portal VietNamNet Bridge on August 7.
Nguyen Thi Le Thu, external relations and marketing manager of the FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, was quoted as saying that her hospital has welcomed many foreigners. Ten years ago the hospital’s foreign patients were mainly citizens of Southeast Asian countries but now they come from Europe, the Americas and Africa. The hospital treats nearly 20,000 patients from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar each year.
Shumells, 51, from Frankfurt (Germany), had a colorectal tumor. After reading an article on the endoscopic surgical techniques in Vietnam in a medical journal, Shumells decided to go to Vietnam.
"I read about many successful cases of operation in Vietnam so I hoped that Vietnamese doctors could help me," Shumells said.
The price of the surgery was also important to Shumells. "It's less than half in Germany and the postoperative services are also good here," this patient said.
There are 15-20 Cambodian and English interpreters at the Ho Chi Minh City Medical College Hospital to serve foreign patients. The hospital welcomes the highest number of Cambodian patients in Vietnam, with about 18,000 people each year. The hospital also treats about 1,000 patients from Europe, Australia, Asia and America.
The hospital’s deputy director, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Bac, said that since 2008 the hospital treated nearly 6,000 foreign patients, including those from Japan, England, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Australia, Switzerland, Turkey and Spain.
"Foreign patients come here for examination and treatment of hepatobiliary diseases, using endoscopic techniques and treatment of neurological diseases and osteoarthritis," Bac said.
At Cho Ray Hospital, one of the biggest state hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, many foreign patients have been treated successfully. "Many patients from Europe or America come here for treatment of thoracic, vascular diseases or plastic surgery," Dr. Nguyen Van Khoi, Deputy Director of Cho Ray Hospital said.
The Central and Ho Chi Minh City Dental and Maxillofacial Hospitals annually treat more than 2,000 foreign patients and overseas Vietnamese. Foreign patients visit for good quality services and cheap hospital fees, said doctors at the two hospitals.
A large number of foreigners come to Vietnam for in-vitro fertilization services.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who laid the foundation for this technique in Vietnam and is now the chair of the Ho Chi Minh City Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Association said that in-vitro fertilization method has resulted in more than 10,000 births.
"Vietnam uses this technique the most in Southeast Asia, with a high success rate,” Dr. Phuong said proudly.
Four years ago, Phuong and her colleagues were very surprised when one of the renowned experts of in-vitro fertilization in the world and his wife came to Ho Chi Minh City to have in-vitro fertilization.
"He is the co-author of the world’s most famous textbook on reproductive assistance techniques," said Dr. Phuong.
"His son is now 4 years old," Phuong said, adding that this expert added the picture of his in-vitro son into the textbook of in-vitro fertilization.
According to Dr. Phuong, Vietnam began provided the in-vitro fertilization treatment for foreigners in 2000 at three hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, including An Sinh, Van Hanh and Tu Du. The Tu Du Obstetrics Hospital alone served more than 200 foreign patients a year.
Dr. Ho Manh Tuong, Director of the Infertility Treatment Faculty of An Sinh Hospital said Vietnam can perform the most modern techniques for the treatment of infertility. He said foreigners come because of the high success rate, while the price is very cheap. The price for an in-vitro fertilization case in Vietnam is about 5,000 USD compared to 15.000-30,000 USD in other countries.
According to Dr. Nguyen Dinh Phu, Deputy Director of the People's Hospital 115 in Ho Chi Minh City, the hospital had successfully conducted 10 kidney transplants for foreign patients in the last 10 years.
"The price for a kidney transplant operation in Vietnam is 50-100 million VND (2,500-5,000 USD), while it is up to 30,000 EUR in Europe," said Dr. Phu.
In Singapore, the cost of a bone marrow transplant surgery is up to 2 billion VND (nearly 100,000 USD) while it is 500-700 million VND (2,500-3,500 USD) in Vietnam.-VNA
