Health tourism available in town

However, the first edition of this Handbook of Health Tourism introduces only 14 hospitals participating in offering medical tourism services that meet the criteria of the health and the tourism sectors regarding prices, facilities and checkup and treatment services for foreigners.

Diverse medical services

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health believes that although the number of the recommended hospitals is small, these healthcare facilities are quite capable of providing diverse medical services for clients—ranging from teeth cleaning to transplantation and cancer treatment.

“The world’s specialized medical services are now available in Ho Chi Minh City,” says Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, office manager of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health. “With the development of health and tourism services, we are confident that the city now has sufficient conditions for developing health tourism.”

According to Mai, it can be said that the costs of many medical services in Ho Chi Minh City are lower than overseas. “The odonto-stomatology field is a good example,” she says. “Given its high-quality services at lower prices, many overseas Vietnamese have returned to Vietnam to have dental implants.”

Data from some local establishments offering dental tourism show that dental service costs in Vietnam are just one third of those in the region, and much cheaper than those in Australia and the US For instance, a dental implant costs from US$7,000 in Australia, from US$3,000 in Thailand, and from US$1,000 in Vietnam.

Recently, the Dental Tourism Organization and the Ho Chi Minh City Dental Hospital have introduced three dental tourism packages—general checkup, radiography and teeth cleaning in an hour, costing VND1 million; general checkup, radiography, teeth cleaning and diamond inlay in three hours, costing VND4 million; and general checkup, radiography and planting eight ceramic denture teeth (upper jaw) in one day, costing VND70 million.

Mai says those who have registered medical insurance can use services provided by the 14 hospitals listed in her department’s handbook.

Health care tourism taking shape

Entrepreneurs say Ho Chi Minh City, as a latecomer in the health tourism destination, should promote and develop more services for visitors. Some travel firms and hospitals have joined hands to engage in medical tourism.

Eight months ago, the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City opened a checkup center for foreigners, which is now operating around 80% of its capacity. The hospital is working with some foreign enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City to provide health examination and treatment services for Taiwanese and Korean expatriates in the city.

Meanwhile, Xuyen A Hospital has plans to receive health tourism guests upon request. This hospital also has well-furnished rooms, supermarket and restaurant to serve clients 24 hours a day. Guests can also take city tours since the hospital is adjacent to tourist destinations such as Cu Chi Tunnels, RinRin Theme Park and Green Noel Tourist Site.

A representative of Vinmec International Hospital says now running a network of hospitals in Ha Long, Danang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, they can help tourists undertake the first checkup in Ho Chi Minh City and the second one in another place, and that their results will be delivered in line with their timetable. The staff of the general hospital under the umbrella of Vingroup can speak many languages, which is helpful for foreign guests.

In addition, some travel companies, like Dong Travel, have recommended dental tourism to clients, including tours of Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring localities, in combination with dental checkup and teeth cleaning.