28-Jan-17 Japan's government will recommend hospitals for inbound medical tourists, starting with 28 facilities scattered across the country. Dubbed "international hospitals," these will be communicated to governments and medical institutions overseas via Japan's diplomatic missions. Japan issued about 950 official medical visas in 2015 - a 13-fold increase in four years. [image: Nikkei Asian Review]

27-Jan-17 Phyathai 2 International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, is developing a centre of excellence to enhance its medical services and serve a growing number of medical tourists. the hospital is aiming to increase its foreign clientele to 40 to 50 per cent of overall patients. [image: Phyathai Hospital / IHMT]

 Insights

26-Jan-17 London’s King’s College Hospital (KCH) will open its first full-fledged branch outside the UK in Dubai in 2018. The 100-bed multi-speciality facility will be located at Dubai Hills, and will be built at a cost of USD200 mn. Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, director of the Dubai Medical Tourism Project, hailed the move as a major boost to Dubai’s medical tourism. [image: Kings College Hospital]

26-Jan-17 The medical and surgical aesthetics market grew a further 8.3 percent in 2016. Representing 46 percent of global market share, the USA still leads the way, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, according to annual figures from IMCAS. Global growth is above all driven by Asia, which saw annual growth of 10 percent in 2016. [image: The Malay Mail Online]

20-Jan-17 Private jet company L’Voyage is seeing growing interest in overseas medical and wellness trips from China. The ultra-rich prefer to fly by private jet and are increasingly choosing Europe and the US for treatments, drugs and technologies not available in China. Global Growth Markets estimates that 4,300 ultra-rich Chinese sought treatments overseas in 2015. [image: International Medical Travel Journal]