Costa Rica Headquarters for Medical and
Well-Being Tourism Conference
(InfoWeb Press) Costa Rica was the host for
the first Medical and Well-Being Tourism
Conference. The Conference for Global
Medicine and Well-Being was carried out from
the 26th to the 28th of April of 2010 and
reunited some 350 operators of health
services from more than 20 countries.
Amongst these were included key decision
makers, like insurance companies,
self-insurance companies, medical tourism
agencies and potential investors in the
industry. Albeit some 100 companies in the
medical and tourism sector participated in
this activity.
This event gave the opportunity to show the
services offering in health tourism that is
made up by the región, brandishing the high
quality in the attention that the
Latin-American health centers have to offer.
As a part of the activities conferences took
place, business meetings and visits to
hospitals and medical centers.
Under the conference, the first gathering of
promotion agencies for medical tourism also
took place. Regarding that, Allan Flores,
Ministry of Tourism, pointed out that
“events such as these are perfect stages
that allow the promotion of this activity
within the tourism industry and help move
along the subject of the importance of the
bond between tourism and health. Also, it
allows us to take advantage of our
comparative characteristics in the field of
health with the purpose of incrementing this
important segment, as a valuable generator
of income and to strengthen our positioning
as a destination for the international
market.
The Conference for Global Medicine and
Well-Being was the stage for a business
conference under the program for economic
cooperation AL-Invest, an initiative of the
Eurpoean Commission that pursues the
objective of supporting the
internationalization of small and medium
business (PYMES) of Latin America, in
collaboration with European partners, so
that they can contribute to the social
cohesion of the region.
“The bonding of health services in the
countries of Latin America with developed
economies allows these to be more
competitive in the world market, as many
internation segments seek alternatives that
mitígate the elevated costs that paying for
healthcare precludes. Precisely, this is an
aspect in which Costa Rica is an excellent
alternative due to its reduced costs in at
least a 40%”, pointed out Emmanuel Hess,
General Manager of PROCOMER.
Also, the Ministry of Competitiveness and
Regulations Improvement, Jorge Woodbridge,
manifested that “to promote spaces for the
promotion of health and well-being services
in Latin America opens up the possibility to
create a global medical cluster that, on one
part, positions the región as one of the
best health systems in the world, and on the
other, consolidates the initiatives that
have been developing within the country.
During the activity the establishment of the
Association for Shelters and Hotels for
Medical and Dental Recovery (CRMD, for its
initials in English) was also announced.
This initiative groups small and medium
sized lodging companies dedicated to
providing previous and post-op medical
attention to foreign patients.
CRMD wants its members to provide the best
medical assistance for those patients that
submit themselves to medical and dental
treatments in Costa Rica and that seek a
place of recovery with high levels of care
and in attractive settings. In this sense a
classification system for its members is
used, that evaluates the facilities and
services that are provided in three
categories: Five Medistar Class, Four
Medistar Class and Three Medistar Class.
Health tourism is seen as a niche of great
potential for Costa Rica. It is expected
that at the conclusion of this year 30
thousand foreigners will visit the country
in lieu of medical attention services and
that this number will increase to 100
thousand in the next five years, according
to PROMED projections. |
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