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Colombia will be a key player during the upcoming World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress, an international medical tourism summit held every year in the United States. The event will set the stage to showcase the country&rsquo s potential as a health destination.
" The sector has competitive advantages like health center infrastructure and technology, qualified professionals, different development hubs at medium-sized cities, and specialized and high-complexity services," stated the president of PROCOLOMBIA, Maria Claudia Lacouture.
For this purpose, PROCOLOMBIA is supporting 16 companies from the sector that intend to present the services available in Colombia, learn about current trends, and identify new contacts to attract new patients into the country.
These organizations include Portoazul Clinic, Inversiones Layne - Genavie, Colsanitas Clinic, Coomeva Medicina Prepagada, the Children&rsquo s Cardiology Foundation, the Santa Fe de Bogota Clinic Foundation, the Shaio Clinic Foundation, Spa' s and Hotels, Medihelp Services Clinic, the Cardiovascular Foundation of Colombia, Special Health Services, Medellin Health Group, Las Americas Corporate Group, Salud Sin Fronteras Group, Pablo Tobon Uribe Hospital, and the San Vicente Foundation.
This is the seventh time that Colombia attends the World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress, held this year in Washington and expecting nearly 3,000 participants from around the world this next September 20th-24th.
A survey by PROCOLOMBIA identified Central America, The Caribbean, and United States as the main markets with business opportunities to export health services, followed by the European Union, as these destinations demand specialized and highly complex health services at competitive prices, high quality professionals, and a variety of climates catering to different patient profiles.
According to a report by the Production Transformation Program, where the health sector is included thanks to its world-class stature, Colombia went from welcoming 14,000 international patients in 2010 to 49,000 patients in 2013. During the first six months of 2014, this figure reached 47,000 international patients.
