Discovering Medical Tourism

Hi!

I am Raphael Encaoua, a young frenchman. I have been working several years in Asia, mainly in investment banking from Singapore to Vietnam . While travelling in Asia, I often came at grips with the idea of being ill, of having a decease difficult to cure or of sustaining an injury that will be have definitive ripple effects. I never considered that Asia was heavily influenced by a strong medical tradition stemming from herbal medecine to vbeing a leader in new practices. While travelling in remoted places in Laos , I was just looking at a few elements such as shanty houses next to the roads, dust, carcroaches and found myself unwilling to deal with any medical practices there. But two elements changed my vision.

The first one was a mission: open a french style spa (thalasso) in Vietnam

The Qi Shiseido in the Palm Garden Hotel Hoi Hanh (center of Vietnam)

This proposition came from the connection that the people I was working with were nurturing in the spa business. We had the two sides of the deal: the first side consisted of the french technology and the second of the Asian management. I had to travel back to France in order to analyse the facilities and make an assesment on whether or not there was a market for this in Asia and more specifically Vietnam. The technology used in thalasso is quite specific as it uses hydrotherapy, seaweeds… I was feeling that the French technology was way more refined than anything else. I hence visited thalasso centers in Dinard, Quiberon, Saint Malo and other places. I was not overwhelmed by the quality of the facilities, but still my jaw dropped when I had an opportunity to discuss with the sales team: the average expenditure per capita was huge and occupation rate was over 89% in the worst cases, appointements had to be made on year in advance…

Now looking at Vietnam, I had a country that was eyeing 10 million tourists by 2012, and in 2005 was only reaching the 4 million figure. Still, I was amazed to see all these spas, foot massages and other body treatments corners flourishing in the streets of Saigon or Hanoi. My mission led me to visit all Vietnam to see how spas are operating.

I was totally shocked by the great quality of the spa all around Vietnam and furthermore in Bali, Singapore and Thailand!!! I couldn’t brag anymore about the intrinsic quality of the French technology. I had in front of me diversity and service quality: we couldn’t find two spas with a similar style (from classic french or German Belle Epoque to an Minimalist Art approach with Japanse influence), the training was excellent as the personnel was warm, customer oriented and technically very qualified. My french technology was not a stand alone experience but just a diferentiation factor among others in the Asian market. I was suddenly humbled by what I saw (I will try to gradually retranscribe my experiences in these spas through my logs)

The second one was a decease:

The FV Hospital in Phu My Hung (Siagon, Vietnam) - an enthralling experience

I was completing a merger and Acquisition deal in Vietnam that was extremly demanding in terms of time constraints: I had only 7 days to complete a 150 pages dossier. When I finally achieved my task one day in advance I was totally run down and soon after I became quite ill. My throat was totally swollen, I had a 40,5 C temperature and so on and so forth. the only problem was that I was in HCMC and not in Singapore or Thailand where I knew there were excellent hospitals.

I remembered visiting a Vietnamese friend in dire straights who broke her wrist at an hospital in District 5 and decided in the snap of fingers to sponsor her to move her to another location. As for my illness, I decided not to take any risks and go to the FV Hospital (Franco Vietnamese Hospital), an hospital in Phu My Hung, that derives from a Joint Venture between French and Vietnamese authorities. When I arrived there I had the impression of being in the lobby of a Hiltin or a Sheraton: not only was the place splendid but the flow of the patients was perfectly oriented, the time of response quick and smooth. My treatment went extremly well even though from what I understood I had an unknown decease (whatever it was neither the avaian flu nor SARS nor the red fish flu…)

Remembering Vietnamese kids in oil tanks…

One of the millions of pictures about the Vietnamese War that caught my attention

I had in front of me an experience that looked like a shock of civilizations, or perhaps what I could call a shock of bigotery: it reminded me these pictures taken during the Vietnamese War where American soldiers are teaching vietnamese people how to clean themselves by taking young kids and placing them in a huge rusty iron oil tank before cleaning them. A young mother quickly blew a fuze and went furiously at odds to the American soldiers. The ensuing confrontation led American soldiers t think that Vietnamese people were against the idea of cleaning themselves, that they were uncivilized and so on and so forth. However, a translator quickly explained that there was a slight misunderstanding: this woman was shouting because she felt that the Americans were dirty and had no sense of hygiene. Why? Because she was only looking at the method - the rusty oil tank where kids were cleaned - and not the intention. We had therefore a misunderstanding because people from the West were not regarding health in the same way than people from the East.

+ For Americans it was a question of principles: Cleaning children using soap to prevent further decease

+ For Vietnamese it was a question of methodology: Cleaning people with appropriate tools

I experienced myself this wide gap and was now willing to dig in this huge problem of misunderstanding…