Not in the pink of health: Medical tourism struggles as ailing rupiah continues to slide

Visitor arrivals will remain soft this quarter.

Singapore's medical tourism subsector will struggle to remain in the pink of health as the ailing Indonesian rupiah continues to slide, a report by CIMB revealed today.

According to CIMB, the weak rupiah will dent Indonesians’ per capita spending on medical healthcare and impact medical providers here.

“This together with the strong Singapore dollar, higher costs and improving healthcare services offered regionally could lead to a rise in competition in this subsector in 2015. However, the risks to medical tourism could be mitigated by the rise in medical spending from China, Vietnam and India, together with Singapore’s unique skill set in complex surgeries and organ transplants,” stated CIMB.