Ruben Toral, chief executive officer of health industry consulting firm Medeguide, says more people will weigh low cost against quality guarantees when choosing destinations for treatment.

"You will pay for Singapore but you absolutely know what you will be getting. If you want absolute guarantees, you go to Singapore. If you want absolute price, you go to India. Thailand and Malaysia right now represent the value plays - good quality, great service, good product," said Toral.

He says medical tourism is likely to grow.

"Asia will be and will continue to be the dominant force in medical tourism. Why? Because this is where you find number one the world's biggest chunk of population - really between India and China there you have it, two-thirds the population just settled in this area. And this is also where you have a major emerging middle-class market," he said.

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