Taipei - Taiwan plans to launch a scheme to attract Asian "medical tourists," a newspaper said on Sunday. The United Evening News (UEN) said the government has set up a taskforce with the aim of luring 100,000 Asian visitors to seek medical treatment in Taiwan by 2015, creating 50 billion Taiwan dollars (1.5 billion US dollars) in revenue.
In the initial stage, Taiwan wants to turn 10 hospitals into "tourist hospitals" within three years and create 3,500 jobs.
The taskforce has earmarked five areas to concentrate on: organ transplants, brain and facial surgery, vascular surgery, fertility treatment and knee replacements.
According to the UEN, the Department of Health believes that Taiwan's medical science is among the world's best, so the island can succeed in medical tourism, like other Asian nations Thailand and South Korea, which attract large numbers of tourists for medical check-ups, treatment and plastic surgery.
Taiwan plans to launch its medical tourism scheme at the July 19- 21 leisure industry exhibition in Taipei before sending delegations to Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan to promote it, UEN said.
