Taipei, Dec. 28 (CNA)
Taiwan has amended regulations on medical tourism in the country to set restrictions on Chinese nationals visiting Taiwan for checkups and cosmetic surgery and change how hospitals will be held responsible for the Chinese customers they cater to.
The set of amended regulations published by the National Immigration Agency on Friday will require medical institutions that sponsor Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan to put up a NT$1 million (US$34,482) guarantee with the agency.
But health care institutions offering medical tourism programs to Chinese nationals will have their businesses suspended for only one month instead of the previously stipulated one year if their Chinese clients overstay their visas.
The agency will also require that Chinese visitors applying to visit Taiwan for medical reasons provide financial statements, which has not been the case in the past.
Chinese visitors must be aged over 20 and have savings of up to NT$200,000 or earn at least NT$50,000 per year to be allowed to get checkups in Taiwan with their blood relatives and spouses, it said.
The regulations, to take effect on Sunday, could help improve the international competitiveness of Taiwan’s medical industry while showing the country’s soft power strength to the world, said Hsieh Li-kung, the agency’s director-general.
source: http://www.focustaiwan.tw / Focus Taiwan News Channel / Home> Society / By Liu Chien-pang and Maia Huang / December 28th, 2012
