In order for hospitals to function on a consistent operational level, it requires a regular rotation of a highly trained professional faculty, development of medical practices and medicines, and labor force of educated practitioners (Sim, 2012). In order to establish an international hospital and international school of Medicine, English training is a key step in the process. All doctors and nurses should be able to understand English when they deal with international patients. In Thailand, most hospitals that provide such treatments ensure that the doctors converse in English. Most Thai hospitals also have interpreters who can converse in 15 different languages as well (Wilson, 2013). At the beginning, we will bring the faculty members and necessary experts in the industry to initiate the business. The initial phase of the business plan is to transfer the knowledge and experience to the hospital and school of medicine. Once the hospital is established, CIU’s networks will bring the patients and clients from Korea and other countries providing the same medical treatment delivered in Korea. Of course, the patients will pay medical fees lower than what they would have to pay in Korea, but they would pay more than the standard local rate. For local patients, they would usually go out of the country to get such a treatment, but with the international hospital in place, they would choose to have their treatment in their local area, Laos, instead of another country.
The Medical Council and plastic surgeons will strive to become a medical and surgical hub of Asia and promote Thailand for a move that they believe could earn as much as $8.3 billion a year. The demand for cosmetic surgery has increased rapidly worldwide, particularly in the United States, Europe and Asia. In Asia, China has the highest number of people undergoing cosmetic surgery, followed by Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Rhinoplasty (“nose jobs”) and double-eyelid surgery top the list of desired operations (AsiaOne, 2013). Instead of going to Thailand, many foreigners will visit Laos to undergo aesthetic surgery.
This business plan will involve a cosmetic surgery-and-tourism package which will include
airfare, cosmetic surgical treatments, luxury accommodation, etc. At first, the hospital will invite the faculty members and doctors from Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia to train the local Laos doctors and students and to provide the best surgical treatments. Korea has the largest number of tourists who come to get their cosmetic surgeries done. In the year 2009 the number of tourists ranged around 60,000, which then increased to 412,889 by the year 2017. With almost 28% of the medical tourists visiting Korea are for plastic and cosmetic surgeries, Korea was able to earn around $3,700 per patient (beautiquekorea, 2014).
The hospital and the medical school will propose to form the international Medical Tourism Association (MTA) to promote Laos as a medical hub. The hospital and medical school will work together with MTA facilitating the medical services for foreign patients while they are in Laos. For reference, Thailand earns over $5 billion a year from medical tourism, out of which $1 billion of which goes to private hospitals and clinics providing medical treatment to foreign patients (AsiaOne, 2013). Studies show that the cosmetic surgery and procedure industry in Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth over the next decade, owing to the growing medical tourism, improving healthcare infrastructure, and availability of high-quality services (Grandviewresearch.com, 2017). Also, in the UK, the cosmetic surgery industry is worth $4.5 billion (BBC Three, 2017). Specialists estimate, continued and stable growth in
cosmetic surgery procedures worldwide, with a 8.9% growth by the year 2020 (Malay Mail, 2017). The market was worth $8.5 billion 2016, could be worth up to $9.2 billion by the year 2020 (Malay Mail, 2017). This explains the demand for the industry and implementing the idea would result in a good expansion. If the government fully supports the effort for turning Laos into an Asian medical and surgical hub, the country could earn up to $3 billion (50% of that of Thailand) annually within the next five years as Thai cosmetic doctors project $6.5 billion per year revenue.
Many local Thailand clinics have become agents for South Korean hospitals and many Thai youngsters undergo surgery in South Korea due to the popularity of Korean Youth culture. In future, these Thai youngsters who visit Korea to get their treatments done can come to Laos to get the same treatment that they would get in Korea for a fraction of the cost.
It would be a violation of the law if clinics and private hospitals invite physicians from countries like South Korea to provide cosmetic surgery to local patients. Hence, a training will be provided by these experts from Korea for the local practitioners. This will allow the local doctors to be capable of doing the same surgery in a short period of time. This then becomes an opportunity for Laos to become an international medical hub for the patients in Asia. The School of Medicine in Laos will provide and meet sufficient needs of hospitals required above and will function as a platform for international practices and studies of medicine in East andSoutheast Asia. CIU has an international standard course material that will allow students from different countries to study the specialized fields of medicines and complete their licenses in different countries. While previous traditional medical schools required longer years of study in one institution and high tuition fees to support the education, CIU provides a network of International universities that students can transfer to in their final years of education to complete their medical licenses. Laos School of Medicine will reduce the costs and time for students to become a internationally licensed medical practitioner on a level where not only the privileged have the rights for education in the field of medical practices.
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Moreover, foreign doctors could practice in Laos for specific treatments like cosmetic surgery, and they could make enough financial income to sustain the practice. The medical school will also be able to recruit many international students from various countries. The hospital will also provide dermatology, diet therapy (Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine), chiropractic treatment for aesthetic purpose. Once we establish the funds for these areas, we will add more practices and treatments as the hospital grows.