MEDICAL TOURISM IN SINGAPORE Essay

com 2018) in Singapore. And as opposed to many countries there are new improved drugs that are authorized to be used in Singapore. The Country is well equipped with 17 hospitals that are actively run to serve the medical tourism industry. Impacts of medical tourism on the economic growth of Singapore In addition to having a factoring impact on other collaborating sectors, medical tourism is directly involved in contributing to the economical growth of Singapore as discussed below. It strongly contributes to the GDP growth of about 19% as targeted in the medical tourism sector. Contributions of medical tourism in Singapore economy Promote economic development Medical tourism has directly been involved with raising income revenues in Singapore and also contributing largely to the GDP growth rate of the country.

The country is expecting the value of medical tourism to rise by 5 billion dollars by 2010 from the current 3 billion dollars. Economic growth is one of the reasons why the tremendous advanced countries have become wealthier and have high living standards (Weil 2013). According to Barro and Sala-i-Martin (2004), there is a dependent relationship between the reduction of extreme poverty and the growth of an economy. If there is an increase in the economy of a company, then the poverty line will be adversely reduced. Also, the invention of the Telemedicine and Telehealthcare which are used in areas like in the treatment of cardiovascular problems and has dramatically reduced the time patients have to wait for them to be served, has bridged access for remote areas and has significantly improved service efficiency resulting to saving the costs of services.

Constraints of Medical tourism in Singapore economy Cost of production The cost of production of healthcare services in Singapore is high and results to overpricing of the healthcare services as opposed to its neighboring countries. This put Singapore on the map to losing its dominance in the medical tourism sector since the other Asian countries that offer similarly good healthcare services have lower prices that attract the customers that cannot afford the services being provided in Singapore (The Straightimes 2018). Marketing and promotion Singapore is a globally recognized country in medical tourism, but for every principal business, there is always a challenge in finding and retaining customers. Patients who have experienced the services in other Asian countries that offer relatively good healthcare services will tend to visit the other places (The Straightimes 2018).

Joint venture A joint venture involves an agreement between some parties and a signed contract to a specific task with a mission of completing that task. If the Singapore's ministry of health will consider involving joint venture to the improvement of its economy it will create opportunities that will help in gaining better knowledge; there will be more access to better resources in the market and considering it is not permanent, you will therefore not be committed to it forever. In a joint venture, both parties have to equal the costs and risks. The joint venture has proved to be a success for most organizations.   Conclusion It is true that Singapore can still be leading when it comes to medical tourism, but it is also true that its neighbors are working hard to bridge the gap.