Cholesterol Drug may be Helpful in Treating Prostate Cancer

A new study, presented in the September issue of European Urology, shows that a drug common for treatment of high cholesterol levels also could be helpful in treating prostate cancer. The drug, called Rosuvastatin-a suppressed the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells in mice. To come up with these findings, Dr. Xiao-Yan Wen and her team at St. Michael’s Hospital screened 2,000 small molecules in zebrafish embryos. Seven compounds-four of the statins slowed or prevented the growth of the blood vessels.

In the future, following with successful human trials, the statin drugs are hoped to optimize the benefits of radiation, which would help doctors determine the most effective, less toxic and affordable treatments for their prostate cancer patients.

The European Spa Market presented by Reinhard Petry

Reinhard Petry from European Spas Association speaking at Glow 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.

At last week’s Glow 2010, mr. Reinhard Petry, Project Manager at the European Spas Association (ESPA) presented his view on the European spa and wellness market, and where it is heading. The global spa market is huge, and in Europe alone there are 180 million overnights per year at a spa or wellness center. Believe it or not, but the health tourism market is extimated to be the most growing market the next 10 years.

First of all, Petry pointed out that there is currently a differentiation between how the spas in Europe and the spas in the U.S. view their role as wellness expanders and advocates. The European spas are very concerned with prevention and rehabilitation, together with the use of local national remedies and products, while American spas are more devoted to enhance overall wellbeing through a variety of professional services. In Europe, overnight stays are most common, while the U.S. has more day spas, with a total of 100 million visits to American spas last year.

With the boom in this industry, more and more players want to get in. But what should you as a spa ower do to really succeed among the fierce competition in the global wellness industry? Here are some of the main critical issues that should be met by all spas and wellness centers, noted by mr. Petry:

• Good language skills
• Good formation and continuous formation of the personel
• Use the cuisine as a unique selling point
• Include offers for the children
• Make sure the opening hours are set after the customers’ needs, not the personel
• Do quality control by recognized enterprises (such as Europspa Med och Eurospa Wellness)

Are you a spa owner? In that case, what do you see as the most important issue to raise the level of service to attract more international patients? Comment below or on our Facebook Page.

Glow 2010 – a Success

Andrew Jacka

Last week, Novasans participated in Glow 2010 – one of the major medical tourism and

Naresh Jadeja

wellness congresses in South East Asia this year. The congress was held at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, due to the city’s central position among the four main target countries; Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The congress adressed many valuable issues for those working in the global healthcare market, and the discussions were sometimes intense and engaging. Some of the head speakers at the event were Andrew Jacka, who is a chariman of Asia Pacific SPA & Wellness Coalition, Naresh Jadeja, President of International Wellness and Healthcare Travel Association, Upasna Kameneni at the Apollo Group of Hospitals in India and Reinhard Petry, Project Manager at the European Spas Association (ESPA).

Some of the major issues addressed were the new era of wellness in the South East Asia Region, understanding the spa/wellness and medical tourism inustry to globally expand a business, the importance of accreditations for hospitals, and how to attract international patient from all regions.

With the congress, the VMAC Business Group arranging the event, managed to raise topics regarding the latest trends and techniques that empasise on health and wellness, feasible approaches for the wellness and medical tourism industry to remain competitive during the recession, and other means to promote and market their services. Novasans would like to thank Joshini John with colleagues for their excellent arrangement of Glow 2010. We already look forward to Glow 2011!

Results of the Medical Tourism Climate Survey 2010

Last week, the results of the Medical Tourism Climate Survey 2010 was presented by Keith Pollard, Managing Director of Intuition Communication, at the European Medical Travel Conference in Venice, Italy.

The survey was completed online by 257 representatives of medical tourism business from 55 different countries. A cross section of medical tourism agencies and facilitators, business consultants and hospitals were surveyed with cosmetic surgery, orthopaedic surgery and dental treatment among the most common services provided by respondents. However, Intuition Communication admits that the reserach is not perfect, stating that it is based on the views of 257 individuals and there may be significant areas of sample bias in the research.

The most higly represented countries in the survey were the USA, India, UK, Hungary and Turkey, and most of the surveyed business were small organisations employing less than five people and handling less than 50 medical tourist per year.

The leading medical tourism destinations

According to the medical tourism facilitators, the leading medical tourism destinations are India, Thailand, USA, Hungary and Malaysia. The countries seen as the leading source of patients both now and in the future are the USA, UK and the Russian Federation. Countries seen as providing the best overall service to patients are Thailand, India, and Singapore. In five years time, the same countries will still be the leading medical tourism destinations.

Current market

There seem to be mixed views about the current market, with over 50 percent believing that the market has declined or remained static in the past twelve months. This is probably due to the economic climate. Around half of the organisations have seen no growth or a decline in their business over the past year, allthough 47 percent state that their business situation is good or very good. Many has a positive outline of the future, believing that the overall market will grow in the next twelve months. The markets that are viewed with a very positive outlook are dental and cosmetic surgery markets.

Challenges

However, there are significant challenges and major problems facing organisations involved in medical tourism. The key issues are:

• Competition
• Marketing issues
• Insufficient demand
• Insurance and liability issues
• Lack of quality standards and international standards
• Lack of professionalism within the industry

Patient Choice

The main factors considered to influence patient choice are:

• Expertise and qualifications of the doctor/dentist
• Comments and ratings by other patients
• Fluency in the patient’s language (English, French and German are the most commonly supported languages within the destination countries)

Conclusion

Through this survey, Intuition Communication concludes that medical tourism can best be described as an industry in its infancy. It is still a young and developing market that lacks sophistication and direction. So far it is higly fragmented with many new entrants and few major player.

What is your take on the growing Medial Tourism field and where the market is heading? Please comment below or on our Facebook page. Don’t forget to pre register on Novasans, to find more information about medical tourism.

European Medical Tourism Delayed Due to Airline Blackouts from Volcano Eruption

The last week, most inbound and outbound airline travel in Europe has been cancelled due to the volcano Eyjafjallajökull‘s eruptions. Even though some airports have been re-opened, no one can tell when the situation is back to normal, as there are reports of a new ash cloud spreading over Europe today. But it is of course not only Europe that is affected by the ash cloud. Many travellers to and from Europe are stranded all over the world, some not dearing to leave the airports in hope of catching the next available flight, whenever it will leave. This also affects many medical tourists travelling for health care from Europe, but also them waiting to return to Europe after their treatment. It also affect the medical tourism conferences in the region.

Are you one of the affected travellers, and how do you plan to get to your point of destination? Comment below or on our Facebook page.