The Premier Platinum sponsor at the World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress was the Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion. The primary purpose of CKMP includes staging the Korean healthcare market to the international communities and fostering a safe and reliable infrastructure for quality of care. Many Korean Hospitals were represented at the conference, including: Ajou Unviersity Medical Center, The Catholic University of Korea, Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital, Hanyang University Medical School, Wooridul Hospital, and Severance Hospital. Korean hospitals were not the only ones represented in Korea’s advance in Medical Tourism; the Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute also exhibited at the conference. Korea was highlighted at the Congress as having extremely high quality healthcare and many US insurance companies and facilitators were excited to create relationships with Korean Hospitals.
The Council for Korea Medicine and Overseas Promotion has made it their goal to increase the flow of patients traveling for overseas care to their premier destination. This goal was emphasized more during the session on Korea’s Healthcare Infrastructure and Quality, which highlighted speakers from Wooridul Spine Hospital, Severance Hospital, Ajou University, and Kangam St. Mary’s Hospital. The president of CKMP, Dr. Youheun Ahn, affirmed that Korea is setting itself up to become the premier destination in Medical Tourism, with its dedication to patients at any one of their top of the line hospitals.
The Philippines Department of Tourism was a Gold Sponsor at the World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress. The Philippine Department of Tourism is the primary government agency of the Republic of the Philippines tasked with the responsibility to encourage, promote, and develop tourism as a major socio-economic activity to generate foreign currency and employment and to spread the benefits of tourism to both the private and public sector. Several Philippine hospitals exhibited and created new relationships with insurance companies and facilitators who were extremely impressed with the quality and hospitality offered in the Philippines.
I asked the capable Vivian Ho to conduct interviews with as many of our Distinguished Delegates, Speakers and Key Contributors as possible prior to the inaugural World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress meeting held in San Francisco this year. Many of those interviews have been included here in this issue dedicated to the Congress proceedings.
By way of background, Vivian is President of the Academy for Global Health Philanthropy; and she served formerly as the President & CEO of Queens International, whose mission was to build bridges and networks statewide in Hawaii and throughout the Asia Pacific region in creating their medical tourism industry.
In conducting these interviews, she commented to me that each and every one of you interviewed are contributing to the medical tourism’s industry growth in “remarkable and awe-inspiring” ways. Congratulations again on all your collective achievements, successes and dedication to the medical tourism industry. As members, you form the most important cornerstone of the Medical Tourism Association, and we are proud to be your organization facilitating your development and the growth of the medical tourism industry as a whole. We look forward to new stories of achievement, challenges met and milestones reached in the years ahead; and more immediately at our next World Medical Tourism & Global Health Congress 2009 to be held in Los Angeles, California next year.
(Renee photo and bio as follows: Renée-Marie Stephano is Chief Operating Officer and a Founder of the Medical Tourism Association, Inc., an international non-profit organization that serves international healthcare providers and medical travel facilitators in the global healthcare industry. Renée-Marie is an attorney licensed to practice law in the states of Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and has a background in litigation and health law. She is also Editor of the Medical Tourism Magazine, a monthly journal serving the global healthcare industry by free subscription at www.medicaltravelauthority.com. Renée-Marie may be reached at Renee@medicaltravelauthority.com.
