Otago hospitals have the potential to cash in on the lucrative medical tourism trade, with North American patients prepared to fly halfway around the world to undergo surgical procedures for a fraction of the price they would have to pay at home.
Dr Hans Raetz, of Queenstown, said medical tourism was a "real possibility" for the resort, as North American insurance companies eyed up partnerships with quality health providers abroad.
New Zealand's first world status, favourable exchange rate, top medical facilities and staff, and it being an English-speaking country were all major factors in its favour, he said.
An increasing number of Americans were taking advantage of "cheap as chips" plastic surgery procedures and New Zealand should capitalise on its appeal as a medical destination.
Dr Raetz, who is involved with Queenstown's first private hospital, which was granted consent last Monday, said big-spending Americans would help with the retention of medical staff as salaries would rise.
"We can't see a down-side to this. If we have comparable salaries to other countries, we will get people coming back from Australia, because right now we are losing the best staff."
Queenstown, with the support of Dunedin-based medical staff, had the potential to become a medical tourism destination offering a "broad range of orthopaedic and general surgery" within the next five years.
Metral New Zealand managing director Steve Nichols said he believed the Auckland company, set up in 2006 as a medical tourism venture, was the only business of its type in Australia and New Zealand courting American insurance companies.
The company was receiving "a growing number of inquiries" about its packages.
Deals offering a range of medical services, including orthopaedic and cardiac operations, accommodation and airfares were still 30% to 40% cheaper than American hospitals.
Typically, it took patients at least 24 days to recover from a hip operation, so an important and lucrative aspect of the business was post-operative care, Mr Nichols said.
A 2008 report by Deloitte said medical tourism would "experience explosive growth over the next three to five years" as health care in the United States continued to rise.
In 2007, an estimated 750,000 Americans travelled overseas for medical care, and this is expected to increase to six million by 2010.
Mercy Hospital chief executive Richard Whitney, of Dunedin, said while the private hospital was not "active" in medical tourism, it was on the agenda for the board to consider.
Minister of Health Tony Ryall said the Government was "keeping an eye on" medical tourism.
"There is a slight risk that significant increases in the numbers of medical tourists might encourage doctors and nurses to leave the public health system. But it doesn't look to be much of an issue at this stage."
