Kenya is positioning itself as a medical hub, taking services to other East African countries and offering credit to patients who finance health bills out of their own pockets.

With growth in technology and many specialised medical practitioners in the region, many patients in East Africa are now opting to come into the country as it is nearer home for the same medical treatment they seek abroad.

These patients come from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and some from as far as Zambia, Malawi and Congo to seek medical services that include in vitro fertilisation (IVF), open heart surgery, cancer treatment, kidney transplant, neurological disorders and diagnostics services.

Stephen Masinde director of A&K Global Health, a medical tourism firm, said they bring about 200 patients per month into the country with the majority (about 70 per cent) coming for IVF.

“We expect to be bringing in 2,000 patients a month in the next one year,” said Mr Masinde.

He added that previously patients had to rely on their own research or recommendations to choose a hospital in Kenya. This was tricky for some as they did not have a contact person before travelling for medical care.

But now medical tourism firms in Kenya market the available medical services, cost and state of hospitals in the country to potential clients in neighbouring countries.

“Once we get the patients, we then handle the logistics — bookings and medical billing issues,” said Mr Masinde.

“We seek to connect patients to the best healthcare options, where they can evaluate the various options of treatment, access a wider range of experts and the best treatment at the lowest cost,” he added.

However, there has been another challenge across the region: Money with which to pay the medical bills.

“Medical tourism firms are now closing in on this by extending loans at interest. The money is paid at an agreed time after the patient is treated,” he said.

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The loan, according to Mr Masinde, can be from 30 per cent of the total medical cost to 70 per cent. But in cases where there is collateral, it can go as high as 100 per cent.

Some providers are now working with insurance firms and banks to provide financing options that would have been unavailable to individuals.

Besides bringing patients into Kenya for medical care, medical tourism firms are taking the services to the patients in their home countries as another way of marketing the country as a medical hub.

“For example, we have partnered with hospitals in Ethiopia to take our doctors there to conduct up to 5,000 open heart surgeries next month,” said Mr Masinde.

“For the slightly complicated cases that need more attention, the patients will be brought here; for the more complicated cases that cannot be handled by our doctors, we shall get doctors from India to conduct the surgeries.”

It is estimated that about a million people have heart-related diseases in the country. However, a number of these can only be handled abroad.

Growing industry

Medical tourism in Kenya is a relatively new but growing industry that is now valued at $100 billion. Medical tourism occurs when patients choose to travel abroad with the intention of receiving some form of medical treatment.

India is still the preferred medical destination for most of Africa due to affordability and quality of service.

According to statistics, India received 1.1 million medical tourists between 2009 and 2012, earning the country $2.4 billion.

“India is cheaper in terms of cost because it has many specialists and because of its big population, the doctors gain experience by conducting many procedures and through this are capable of handling more complicated cases,” said Mr Masinde.

“A hospital in India, for example, can conduct up to 32 open heart surgeries in a day, while in Kenya maybe one heart surgery is done in the private hospitals in a day and one in a week in the public hospitals.”

Up to 100,000 people go to India for medical treatment from East Africa every year and the number is increasing by 4 per cent annually.

In India, hysterectomy (an operation to remove a woman’s uterus) costs $4,000 including travel costs, whereas in the US the same procedure costs at least $8,000, and in Kenya is offered at more than $10,000.

Kidney transplants in India cost $17,000 including travel costs, in Kenya up to $20,000. Cancer treatment costs $25,000 in India, $70,000 in the US while in Kenya it costs at least  $150,000 for the whole treatment.

“Although it costs less for a kidney transplant at Kenyatta National Hospital — $5,500 — the lack of machines and long queues make it difficult for many patients to get treatment making India an option,” said Mr Masinde.

According to Kenya Medical Association chairman Elly Nyaim, most Kenyan hospitals — especially public hospitals, which are affordable — lag behind on medical tourism because they are perceived to offer poor quality health care due to their poorly staffed facilities, overcrowding and limited service provision.

The bigger challenge in even marketing Kenya as a health hub is that infrastructure remains undeveloped, health and hygiene need great improvement and the skills of the local labour force are poor.

“Many Kenyans are travelling abroad because of lack of high-tech facilities and some perceive hospitals in countries like India, the US and South Africa as a sure bet to receiving quality healthcare. This has seen countries like India turn into top medical tourism destinations,” said Dr Nyaim.

Dr Nyaim added that local hospitals are capable of developing medical tourism but a significant investment in state-of-the-art health care technology is required.

“The advantages of having such facilities include a drastic cut in costs of treatment because about half of the outlay goes to travel and accommodation-related expenses for the patients and caretakers seeking treatment in foreign countries,” said Dr Nyaim.

“The private hospitals are an improvement with small but modern health facilities but better trained medical staff is still required.” 

While the Kenyan government has succeeded in revamping the health sector, he said, a lot still remains to be done to position the country as a destination of choice for medical tourism.

More investment

“We need more investment in infrastructure and human resource; we need foreign investors to build more world class health facilities,” he said.

According to analysts, the Kenyan health sector, which has been growing by about 15 per cent year-on-year, is primed to benefit from the highly lucrative area of medical tourism.

“Medical tourism is now emerging as a niche market in the country’s tourism which has been synonymous with the safari and beach sub-sectors,” said Erick Musau, a research analyst at the Standard Investment Bank.

“Incoming patients not only boost the medical sector, but also spur growth in demand for taxis and air travel, buses, accommodation and eateries as both patients and accompanying relatives spend money as they await recovery.”

Simon Karo, chief executive at Pathway International, a medical tourism firm in Kenya, said developed countries like Germany and the UK have become the destination of choice because technologies like “softer chemotherapy” are used and marketed to cancer patients.

“Hospitals in these countries offer a combination of medical and spiritual care,” said Mr Karo.

But he hastened to add that Kenya is on the right course in boosting health care by investing in skills, equipment, and other resources to improve the delivery systems.

Analysts say the potential for growth in medical tourism is significant. A study conducted last year showed that 95 per cent of medical travellers from Africa visited Asia to seek treatment.

“Such medical examples make the case for Kenya to enhance the quality of service delivery and tap into the medical tourism market. We need to improve infrastructure to enable the country’s healthcare sector to conform to international best practices for modern but cost-effective service delivery,” said Mr Karo.

“Bilateral agreements between governments are also needed so that bureaucracy does not suffocate efforts to make the country a regional medical hub.

“India’s case is an example of partnerships that have managed to build a robust health sector, making it one of the most globally competitive medical travel destinations.”

He added that despite the high investments that will be required to acquire state of the art health care technologies, medical tourism will more than justify them.