Tourism remains low hanging fruit in Zimbabwe. It is low hanging and within arm’s reach because we have abundant, unique and picturesque monuments, captivating flora and fauna, traveller products that are attractive for the both the local and world market and that we are currently receiving foreign currency from. But still, there is untapped potential because in those same traditional tourism products segments, we have not yet achieved critical mass.
By Gloria Ndoro-Mkombachoto
In fact, from an infrastructure point of view, we have regressed. For example, there are no more flights to Kariba, Hwange, Mutare and Masvingo and yet, there is evidence that even during the hyper-inflationary decade of 2000-2010, those from far and wide, who did not believe all the bad publicity around Zimbabwe, found the country a safe, delightful and cheaper place to holiday in.
But tourism comes in many dimensions that also include medical tourism. All the dimensions of tourism are interrelated. Educational tourism, shopping tourism, traditional tourism where visitors travel to specific sites, rural areas, game parks and monuments, medical tourism, etcetera, are all part and parcel of the same tourism value chain.
In this week’s instalment, I would like to appeal to those who are entrepreneurial in or outside the medical fraternity to get back Zimbabwe where we were headed, in medical tourism in the early to late 1980s, before we took a detour, to the road less travelled, not so long after that.
At independence, it looked like medical tourism was going to thrive in Zimbabwe. We had significant inbound traffic from neighbouring countries and abroad seeking medical treatment in our medical facilities and then, as quickly as it had mushroomed, it disappeared.
What is medical tourism?
According to researchandmarkets.com, “Medical tourism can be broadly defined as travel across international borders with the purpose of availing medical treatment, which may or may not be available in one’s own country.” Popular medical specialties include but are not restricted to the following: oncology, cardiology, dentistry, infertility, neurology and neurosurgery, cosmetic surgery, mas-laparoscopy, interventional radiology and Ayurveda.
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Not so long ago in April 2018, a property reporter wrote in the local press in an article titled: Harare to develop medical tourism facility that, “The Harare City Council has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Belvedere Medical Centre (BMC) and the City Health Department (CHD) for the setting-up of a medical tourism facility specialising in organ transplants and other advanced medical procedures.”
While the article was factual about the intentions enshrined in the MOU between BMC and CHD, it was incomplete as it did not highlight the immediate next steps.
Initiatives such as these ought to be private sector-led and certainly not championed by civil servants or city health officials. They are bureaucrats with no appreciation of the intricacies of the world of business. They could be professionals in their areas of specialisation, but business requires a certain appetite for calculated risk and a different type of competence. Bureaucrats are not necessarily entrepreneurial nor do they have what it takes to set up and run a viable medical tourism entity, unless they partner with members with the right skillsets and do not frustrate them due to ignorance and lack of uniformity of purpose.
Ideally, they should have invited bids from interested parties on how to set up a sustainable public-private-partnership (PPP) regarding the use of the now dilapidated infrastructure, for healthcare purposes. This is where the entrepreneurial perspectives within or outside the medical fraternity come in with complementary teams to kickstart projects of this nature.
The world medical tourism market is expected to reach $143,8 billion by 2022
Surely, Zimbabwe can get its ducks in a row and get a slice of this action. Researchandmarkets.com confirms that, “…Medical tourism is a high-growth industry driven by globalisation and rising healthcare costs in (predominantly) developed countries. People (therefore) prefer traveling to developing countries for treatments in order to save cost. More than 40 countries in Asia, America, Africa and Eastern Europe are serving millions of medical tourists annually.” According to South African Tourism (SAT), “Medical tourism globally was estimated to be worth between $45 billion (€37bn) in 2016 and $72 billion (€59bn) in 2017.” It is estimated that the industry will continue to show growth of between 15% and 25% annually.
l But for the medical tourism industry to thrive in Zimbabwe or region for that matter, it must be private sector-led, or there has
l to be mutually beneficial and sustainable PPPs or the private sector can do it alone, like the business models commonly used in SA such as Netcare Healthcare, Life Healthcare, Mediclinic International and Phenang Bonolo Healthcare Group.
l Most importantly, for medical tourism to succeed in any country, it requires sustainable partnerships between the different players within the broader tourism value chain. These players include but are not necessarily restricted to healthcare providers, government, air travel operators and the hospitality industry. There is a big potential in Southern Africa with SA well ahead of Zimbabwe in terms of readiness and preparedness where many medical tourist clients view the region as a destination with world-class tourist facilities in both countries but better medical facilities in SA only.
The tourism value chain ought to be symbiotically integrated.
Euclides Vuemba is the founder of a medical tourism start-up company in Cape Town. Commenting on an article by SAT on tourismupdate.co.za dated January 15 2018, here is what he had to say, “…often what we find is that clients prefer the products that offer a holistic service (flights, accommodation, transport, medical treatment and tours). The challenge… is to create a sustainable network of all these services. Many in the tourism sector do not see the potential, therefore, educating the market and establishing agreements between the different partners is paramount.”
Zimbabwe is in short supply of world-class medical facilities
It is certainly not far-fetched to me to set up a new state-of-the-art medical tourism facility in Victoria Falls. There are direct flights every day from Harare and at least two flights daily from Johannesburg and twice a week from Nairobi. Hwange National Park, Vumba and Great Zimbabwe are sites where well-equipped and adequately human-resourced facilities can be set up catering for both locals and those seeking to kill two birds with one stone: travellers coming for both medical treatment and as they recuperate, enjoy what Zimbabwe has to offer while healing.
The SA medical fraternity is beginning to collaborate with their local tourism outfits including other regional tourism facilities including Zimbabwe’s for its medical tourism clientele. The mighty Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya – The Smoke that Thunders — is a definite favourite for those visiting the region.
l Gloria Ndoro-Mkombachoto is an entrepreneur and a regional enterprise development consultant. Her experience spans a period of over 25 years. She can be contacted at [email protected]
