"E.U.- GERMANY: Medical tourism to Germany on the increase?.."

According to a specialist German medical tourism conference of doctors and academics, Germany attracted 70,000 patients from other countries for in-patient treatment in 2009.

A hundred doctors, academics and government advisors, met in Sankt Augustin to discuss ways to augment their country’s healthcare attractions for international patients, particularly from the Arab and Russian regions.

Jens Juszczak of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg introduced results from a new market study on international patients in German hospitals. This revealed that hospitals active in medical tourism have become more successful than they were two years previously. The reasons, he explained, are the systematic development of new markets, particularly Russia, as well as more professional and long-term marketing.

Leonore Boscher of the international department of University Medical Centre Hamburg, lectured on the importance of structured process flows and demonstrated where costs arise and how they can be controlled. The hospital is the largest among Hamburg's hospitals with 1.400 hospital beds. While the cost of a heart bypass operation in the U.S. depends on the reputation of the physician and ranges from $95,000 to $ 200,000, in Germany there is a fixed price, and that makes Germany an interesting destination.

Swjatoslaw Aksamitowski of Knappschaftskrankenhäuser  (Social Miners and Mine Employee’s Insurance Hospitals) outlined which offers or services are of interest to Russian patients and how hospitals can accommodate such requirements whilst also having to control the treatment process.

Professor Dr. Nicolas Abou Tara, adviser to Hamburg's Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection regarding cooperation with Arabian countries, spoke of the type of treatments Arab patients tend to want, which regions and clinics they prefer and how hospitals can cooperate with clinics in the Arab states in the cross-border care of patients and via doctor exchanges. Hospitals in the Munich area are particularly preferred, he said. Inhabitants of the Gulf States see the city as international and attractive for tourism and quality shopping. Oriental patients, he said, tend to combine medical treatment with an extended holiday.

Although the contribution of foreign patients in relation to the total capacity of a hospital is comparatively small, their treatment should be viewed as a possible additional source of income, but this does come with a significant cost outlay. Key is a specialist international patient centre with multilingual staff; to arrange in-patient stays, arrange visas and aftercare. Another essential prerequisite is efficient and long term marketing.