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Singapore
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Singapore's healthcare services built on a heritage of excellent quality, safety and
trustworthiness, coupled with advanced research and international accreditation, and
is Asia's leading medical hub. Nine hospitals and two medical centers in Singapore
have obtained Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation. JCI is the main
hospital accreditation agency in the United States.
Private hospitals are getting onboard with the government program to attract more
revenue from medical tourism by slashing prices for tour operators. Rallying behind
its medical professionals supposedly among the best in the world Singapore is surely
going to impact the competition.
Singapore made news for many complex and innovative procedures such as the separation
of conjoined twins and tooth-in-eye surgery. The successful separation of the 10-month-
old Nepalese conjoined twins in 2001 puts Singapore's medical expertise onto the World's
headlines. Singapore has since accomplished many more milestones both in Asia and in
the world arena.
Statistics in 2005 showed that 374, 000 foreigners sought medical treatments here.
Singapore Medicine is aiming to serve one million foreign patients a year by 2012 and
generate $3 billion in revenues and create at least 13,000 jobs in the medical tourism
industry.
Recently, Singapore also hosted the first International Medical Travel Conference (IMTC)
from 12th - 15th December 2006. The four-day event attracted participants and media from
21 countries, setting pace and platform for the development of the budding medical travel
industry. The conference aims to bring together thought leaders to examine some of the
fundamentals, issues and challenges involved in the burgeoning international medical travel
industry.
As of late 2006, Singapore Hospitals have mainly chosen to accredit themselves through Joint
Commission International (JCI), a US-based group. This could be part of the reason why JCI
has chosen to set up its Asia Pacific office in Singapore in 2006. In time, Singapore
Hospitals may look towards other European or Asian-based systems of hospital accreditation
in an attempt to broaden their credibility and appeal.
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