Taiwan to promote internationalized medical care services

Taiwan’s Economic Development Vision for 2015—First-stage Three-Year Sprint Program was undertaken by the Executive Yuan in response to the global trend toward internationalization and industrialization of medical care services and lists the Medical Service Internationalization Flagship Project as a key development priority. In October 2007, the Department of Health (DOH) began planning distribution channels and marketing campaigns targeting the current state of this initiative. The objective is to integrate the resources of industry, government and academia into a medical care service network and jointly build a brand image of Taiwan as the home of first-rate medical care services.

The Medical Service Internationalization Flagship Project since its implementation in 2007 has focused on enhancing the basic operating environment of the industry and building distribution channels. A number of gradual results have been obtained so far: The DOH’s Taiwan Task Force for Medical Travel (TTFMT) has helped partner Taiwan hospitals with the Guangzhou-based Zion Health Club, Formosa Health Business Company, Ltd., and Pacific Rim Medical Overseas Consortium to collaborate in transferring patients to receive medical care. TTFMT is also actively putting together international cooperation channels. It has signed memoranda of understanding with Guardian Healthcare Co., the Taiwan subsidiary of the Harvest Medical Investment and Operation Group, and Canadian Allied Development Services International, Inc., whereby patients of foreign nationality requiring multinational medical treatment will have priority referral to hospitals cooperating with the TTFMT.

Since Taiwan is currently still in the early stages of developing medical care services for the international market, strategic planning is to be undertaken in five areas:
1. International marketing: The principal task will be to boost Taiwan’s international profile, build an overall medical care reputation, actively develop overseas Chinese and Chinese mainland markets and promote service models and the development of cooperative channels.
2. Medical care service quality: With medical care services as the core competency of this industry, quality control monitoring and improvement will continue so as to enhance Taiwan’s overall medical care image. A balance will also be sought between development of the medical care industry and social fairness.
3. Tourism resource integration: Strategic cooperation between Taiwan’s leisure and tourism industry and the medical care industry will be intensified to enhance the added value of medical care service alliances and upgrade the basic tourism infrastructure and information technology services for higher tourism quality.
4. Policy coordination: Border entry procedures for non-nationals will continue to be simplified to enhance the attractiveness of traveling to Taiwan for medical treatment. Pertinent laws, regulations and controls will also continue to be reviewed and relaxed to create even more favorable conditions for the industry.
5. Cross-industry alliances: Efforts will be made to establish cross-industry cooperation models involving members of the tourism, hotel, airline and both domestic and overseas insurance industries to expand the medical care services value chain, boost added value, provide complete services and establish industry-oriented operating models.

The DOH believed linking high-quality medical services with a caring and customer-oriented service ethic could lead to innovative operating models for the medical care industry and attract international clients. It also has the potential to stimulate growth of Taiwan’s tourism, transportation and related service industries while boosting overall national competitiveness.

Press Release, Government Information Office of Taiwan, 26. November 2009

Die Presseabteilung der Taipeh Vertretung mit Sitz in Berlin bietet folgende Dienstleistungen an: Erläuterung der Politik und der Entwicklung der Republik China (Taiwan), Verbreitung von Stellungnahmen und Pressemitteilungen von taiwanischer Seite sowie Beantwortung von Fragen über das Land;
Angebot von Informationsmaterial über Taiwan in deutscher, englischer, und chinesischer Sprache (Broschüren, Filme, Videos, DVDs, Diafilme, CDs);
Anlaufstelle für deutsche Medienvertreter, Angebot von Informationsreisen nach Taiwan für deutsche Journalisten;
Organisation von Veranstaltungen mit dem Ziel, Kontakte zwischen Deutschland und Taiwan zu vertiefen (Vorträge, Seminare, Ausstellungen, Filmfestivals etc.);
Sonstige Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Presseabteilung Taipeh Vertretung
Markgrafenstr. 35, 10117 Berlin

This release was published on openPR.