About 100,000 foreigners visit Vietnam every year for medical treatment,bringing more than 1 billion USD of revenue to local hospitals,according to an article published on the English language news portalVietNamNet Bridge on August 7. Nguyen Thi Le Thu, externalrelations and marketing manager of the FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City,was quoted as saying that her hospital has welcomed many foreigners. Tenyears ago the hospital’s foreign patients were mainly citizens ofSoutheast Asian countries but now they come from Europe, the Americasand Africa. The hospital treats nearly 20,000 patients from Cambodia,Laos and Myanmar each year. Shumells, 51, from Frankfurt(Germany), had a colorectal tumor. After reading an article on theendoscopic surgical techniques in Vietnam in a medical journal, Shumellsdecided to go to Vietnam. "I read about many successful cases of operation in Vietnam so I hoped that Vietnamese doctors could help me," Shumells said. Theprice of the surgery was also important to Shumells. "It's less thanhalf in Germany and the postoperative services are also good here," thispatient said. There are 15-20 Cambodian and English interpretersat the Ho Chi Minh City Medical College Hospital to serve foreignpatients. The hospital welcomes the highest number of Cambodian patientsin Vietnam, with about 18,000 people each year. The hospital alsotreats about 1,000 patients from Europe, Australia, Asia and America. Thehospital’s deputy director, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Bac, said that since 2008the hospital treated nearly 6,000 foreign patients, including those fromJapan, England, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Australia,Switzerland, Turkey and Spain. "Foreign patients come here forexamination and treatment of hepatobiliary diseases, using endoscopictechniques and treatment of neurological diseases and osteoarthritis,"Bac said. At Cho Ray Hospital, one of the biggest state hospitalsin Ho Chi Minh City, many foreign patients have been treatedsuccessfully. "Many patients from Europe or America come here fortreatment of thoracic, vascular diseases or plastic surgery," Dr. NguyenVan Khoi, Deputy Director of Cho Ray Hospital said. The Centraland Ho Chi Minh City Dental and Maxillofacial Hospitals annually treatmore than 2,000 foreign patients and overseas Vietnamese. Foreignpatients visit for good quality services and cheap hospital fees, saiddoctors at the two hospitals. A large number of foreigners come to Vietnam for in-vitro fertilization services. Prof.Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who laid the foundation for this techniquein Vietnam and is now the chair of the Ho Chi Minh City ReproductiveEndocrinology and Infertility Association said that in-vitrofertilization method has resulted in more than 10,000 births. "Vietnam uses this technique the most in Southeast Asia, with a high success rate,” Dr. Phuong said proudly. Fouryears ago, Phuong and her colleagues were very surprised when one ofthe renowned experts of in-vitro fertilization in the world and his wifecame to Ho Chi Minh City to have in-vitro fertilization. "He is the co-author of the world’s most famous textbook on reproductive assistance techniques," said Dr. Phuong. "Hisson is now 4 years old," Phuong said, adding that this expert added thepicture of his in-vitro son into the textbook of in-vitrofertilization. According to Dr. Phuong, Vietnam began providedthe in-vitro fertilization treatment for foreigners in 2000 at threehospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, including An Sinh, Van Hanh and Tu Du.The Tu Du Obstetrics Hospital alone served more than 200 foreignpatients a year. Dr. Ho Manh Tuong, Director of the InfertilityTreatment Faculty of An Sinh Hospital said Vietnam can perform the mostmodern techniques for the treatment of infertility. He said foreignerscome because of the high success rate, while the price is very cheap.The price for an in-vitro fertilization case in Vietnam is about 5,000USD compared to 15.000-30,000 USD in other countries. Accordingto Dr. Nguyen Dinh Phu, Deputy Director of the People's Hospital 115 inHo Chi Minh City, the hospital had successfully conducted 10 kidneytransplants for foreign patients in the last 10 years. "The pricefor a kidney transplant operation in Vietnam is 50-100 million VND(2,500-5,000 USD), while it is up to 30,000 EUR in Europe," said Dr.Phu. In Singapore, the cost of a bone marrow transplant surgeryis up to 2 billion VND (nearly 100,000 USD) while it is 500-700 millionVND (2,500-3,500 USD) in Vietnam.-VNA