3.5 million medical tourists visited Baja California last year; ‘Could be better,’ doctor says

SAN DIEGO ( Border Report ) — Baja California received 3.5 million foreign visitors who sought medical or dental care last year, contributing $2 billion to the state economy.

For Ricardo Vega Montiel, president of the Baja Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery College, those numbers could be better.

“Considering everything that’s going on, these external factors are having a negative impact,” he said, referring to the ongoing violence in cities such as Tijuana and reports of illegal work being done by unlicensed doctors and clinics throughout the state, which keep many woud-be patients away.

“We’re actually in a very tranquil state with calm waters right now,” Vega Montiel said. “In spite of the adversities, medical tourism remains strong in Baja California compared to other economic sectors such as hotels, restaurants, tourist-oriented businesses.”

Vega Montiel said a bilingual campaign to draw medical tourists from the U.S. to Tijuana needs to be “reignited.”

“This drive was started seven years ago with great success, but now it’s stalled,” he said. “Tijuana remains in chaos, people don’t know where to go, the GPS systems don’t work because the streets aren’t logged properly, this all has to change — we could be doing so much better as a city and as an industry.”

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