Taiwan will go full throttle to develop its medical tourism sector from 2011, with plans to build five hubs around the island and an advertising blitz on the bid, a senior official says.

The island hopes to catch up with established players such as Thailand and Singapore and grab a greater slice of the global medical travel pie, which is estimated to be worth $40 billion and is growing up to 34 percent every year.

Given Taiwan's proximity to the mainland, the drive could draw away Singapore's potential mainland Chinese patients, who account for an increasing number of its medical tourists.

Wu Ming-yen, who heads the Taiwan task force for medical travel, says the first of the five hubs will be built on a 22-hectare site next to Taoyuan International Airport, with investment estimated at NT$10 billion ($330 million).

Called the Taoyuan Medical Zone, the hub will feature a 6-hectare hospital as well as hotels, shopping malls and entertainment facilities.

"What we are offering is a one-stop service from pickup at the airport to surgery to sightseeing," Wu says.

The construction is expected to wrap up in two to three years' time.

He also discloses that medical tourism zones are also planned for Taichung in central Taiwan and Kaohsiung and Tainan in the south.

Another one, to be set up in Hsinchu, Taiwan's high-tech base, will focus on biomedical research, with tourism as an auxiliary feature.

A special program on medical tourism in Taiwan will air on the Discovery Channel in 2011.

Also on the cards is a guidebook, Patients Beyond Borders, in simplified Chinese characters to target the mainland market.

The Taiwan edition of the book is one in the series that American researcher Josef Woodman first published in 2006.

Taiwan started to develop its medical tourism sector in earnest only three years ago, and lags behind regional leaders Thailand and Singapore. It also has to compete with other up-and-coming destinations such as South Korea, Malaysia and India.

This year, the number of foreign medical tourists visiting Taiwan is expected to surpass 90,000, with contributions amounting to about NT$3 billion, Wu says.

Singapore attracts more than 400,000 patients a year while in Thailand, the Bumrungrad Hospital alone claims to have treated 420,000 patients in 2008.

One major handicap Taiwan faces is that it is not as cosmopolitan as, say, Singapore and relatively few people speak English fluently.

Susie Lin, a customer service coordinator with Chang Gung Memorial Hospital's International Service Center, says a Saudi woman who accompanied her daughter to Taiwan for reproductive treatment subsisted on oranges for four days because of the lack of halal food there.

But, as Woodman told a press briefing organized by the task force, Taiwan has one major edge: geography.

Currently, mainlanders make up only 17 percent of Taiwan's medical tourism market. The bulk of its clientele are from Japan and Africa.

Wu anticipates that soon more mainlanders will come to Taiwan for treatment, as the island's government would allow them to visit on their own, instead of in tour groups.

Still, both experts say Taiwan's push need not pose a threat to other players because each has a different niche and caters to different markets.

Singapore has a reputation for cancer and tumor treatment, and stem cell therapy, and Thailand is famed for its cosmetic and transgender surgeries.

Taiwan would do well to also build its own niche, such as cardiovascular treatment, reconstructive facial surgeries, and traditional Chinese medicine, while leveraging on its technological advantage, Woodman says.

"No one has cornered the market yet. There's a lot of room for growth for everyone," he says.