Chinese medical tourist
Chinese people visiting Japan on purpose of getting medical treatment have been increasing explosively these days. They will visit not just for medical treatment, but also for tourism what we call "Medical tour". Japanese medical institutions still have problems of languages and support system for patients so all the institutions which is capable of accepting them is limited like a major hospital and university hospital which have one of the sectors specialized in medical tour.Those hospitals' location almost concentrate the metropolitan area but there are also hospitals providing medical tour service in Kansai and in Fukuoka or Kita-kyushu where geographically is close to coastal area of China. Some people visit major hospital located in that region so acceptances of patients for medical tour are scattered throughout all parts of Japan now.
What kind of treatment do they receive
Actually the majority number of people who come for medical treatment receives medical checkup. For all that, those institutions and hospitals are totally different from the one we go check but they provide additional unique support program for health like insomnia treatment, smoking cessation therapy and some are equipped with sports gym in addition to ordinary medical checkup.Besides above, the number of Chinese patients who hope to receive advanced medical care such as osteopathy treatment, organ transplants, cancer treatment, heart disease treatment because there are few high-level medical treatment exists in China ,which patients feel safe to receive such a organ transplants as high medical technology. Of course, Chinese people don't have Japanese health insurance issued by Japanese government so they don't hesitate to receive these high-class medical service at their own expense. On the other hand, dental treatment technology is very weak in Japan so the percentage of Chinese people who come on purpose of dental treatment is going to be very low.
Why do they choose Japan
It is partly because Chinese medical technology level is not so high but the main reason is that they can receive preventive treatment of cancer in very early stage in Japanese medical institution which is said to have cutting-edge medical technology around Asia , where is relatively close enough to visit.Most of the Chinese people who take advantage of this medical service tend to prefer chemical treatment and radiation therapy to surgery and there are some medical institutions specialized in those treatment in Japan.
A Chinese woman who visited Japan for basic medical checkup and blood cleansing treatment found delight in quality of service that treat foreigners as VIP rather than high technology treatment.
Some people apply for even their country's medical tour through a foreign coordinator
If Chinese people who want to receive a high medical technology and high quality of medical service, their destination will be to Japan or if they want to receive cosmetic treatment, their destination will be to korea.
In China, medical tour is not accepted and travel agents are restricted to propose medical tour. Because of this, the people who go to medical tour need to ask for a Japanese agent to apply for this. Under this circumstance, the first trouble they're facing with is language barrier. It cannot be helped that their uncertainty still remains against accuracy of information even though the brochures they receive are written in Chinese.
Moreover, there is a case the brochures describe the country's medical technology level excessively, which after all make them decide to have medical care in China.
Solving those problems , medical tour was sponsored by the companies of third country. It is possible to carry out procedures to apply for the this tour on the internet and no need to step in the third country and most of the tours recommend go to where they will stay directly.
A Chinese man who joined a medical tour through an agent in Hongkong said "It was good for me because a coordinator spoke Chinese and he gave me some advices about medical services I applied for and answered any question I wondered. He totally took care of between hospital and me."
There seems to be some people who will participate in Chinese medical tour through a foreign agent.
What is the exact factor to attract Chinese people to Japanese medical tour?
The main reason for them to visit for medical tour may be geographically close between China and Japan but also is that they expect the hight medical technology level. When compared with the medical level of the United States, Japan should be inferior in some kinds of specific medical field, however, Chinese people feel safe to see Japanese doctors because in a case they have precise examination for heart disease treatment, they tend to choose Japanese who know better how to treat asian people than American doctor.Most of the Japanese medical tour covers whole world but some of them are proposing and providing medical tour just for Chinese. Japanese lower medical expense than the United States is also the point of merit for Chinese people to choose Japan.