[Interview] Two main blocs have formed in WHA, the delegate of Japan introduces her own

Rochelle Tanujoyo | The Hankyoreh

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The World Health Assembly has changed significantly in one day of committee sessions. From many proposed solutions, two have emerged that intend to fully tackle the complex issue that is medical tourism.

On Day 3, the World Health Assembly sifted through all the proposed solutions, and two draft resolutions are in the making. The first one from the bloc led by Japan that includes delegates of nations like Nigeria, the US, Belgium and more. The second was from the bloc led by France, and was mainly backed by India as well as Costa Rica.

In an interview with the delegate of Japan, she highlighted how her draft resolution’s solution to brain drain consists of “ educational campaigns to convince other people to take up medical scholarships to learn more about health”. The delegate also mentioned visits and briefings in schools and “engaging youth media programs”. This encourages more students in countries struggling with a lack of healthcare professionals to consider pursuing healthcare as a career. Japan's incisive policy may assist with the brain drain of healthcare professionals to other countries. Nonetheless, it does not address the movement of healthcare professionals from the private to the public sectors.

The delegate also further elaborated on “incentives for medical health professionals to return to their origin countries through recognition and awards to get them to come back”. Recognition and awards are a softer way to get healthcare professionals back to their own countries, but to what extent is it effective? Hankyoreh believes that some healthcare professionals may prefer the perks that destination countries offer to them over the incentives. While recognition and awards can lead to easier career progression for healthcare professionals, destination countries might offer higher pay and better perks. This may lead to healthcare professionals choosing to work in destination countries instead.

Japan also pitched a federated medical database that would facilitate the “direct transfer of medical information between a patient and their hospital”. However, it would “not be a central data platform where all information is stored, it is just a singular transfer between the patient and whichever hospital they're going to so it's more secure and encrypted.” This database would be able to ensure patient records and information are communicated effectively. It can also solve the issues of patients being unaware of their own medical records and not being able to communicate them effectively. This would reduce the risks of compromising patient safety when accessing treatment across borders.

Furthermore, Japan stated that ”the countries can choose based on patient consent whether they want to send over their information” and “countries will also perform regular audits to make sure there's no misuse". These measures can

help to increase transparency and no misuse of patient data. Hankyoreh believes that the database would be an essential resource for patients to access proper follow-up care and ensure that their health would not be compromised as a result of miscommunication.

Korea, as a destination nation, would benefit from this database; clearer information communication would incentivise more people to travel to countries like Korea. While Korea is mainly a destination country for non-essential procedures like plastic surgery, the communication of medical information is still important to minimise the risks of the patient's health being impacted due to miscommunication.

“I think the problem we have right now is that we have 2 separate blocs but both of us have more the less the same ideas i think the way that we can cooperate is to see where our ideas overlap the most and kinda try to integrate our ideas together instead of being insistent on two separate blocs for the same idea”, said the delegate of Japan after being asked about how countries could cooperate to prevent any harm to patients from medical tourism.

The delegation also emphasised the need for delegates to put aside small differences and possibly combine blocs. The combination of the blocs would allow for the ideas to be more polished as more delegates coming from different perspectives and interests representing their country would help to make the draft resolution more effective in more countries.

The delegate ended with an important line,“ the more we debate about which ideas are better, even though it's the same idea, it's just delaying the process of our patients' safety”. This reminds the delegates that medical tourism is a pressing issue that can impact the lives of many people worldwide. Instead of focusing on minute details, the delegates should work together as a whole assembly to ensure the immediate safety of patients globally.