Booming health tourism in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA:Malaysian healthcare has not only attracted neighboring countries but also tourists from developed countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, due to the high quality of services rendered and the reasonable rates offered.

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council's chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Mary Wong said last year, the number of healthcare tourists to the country showed an increase of 48% from 2010, with 583,000 arrivals recorded compared to 383,000 in 2010.

"The increase in healthcare tourist arrivals is testament to the high quality and affordable medical care we provide.

"Some of the popular treatments and procedures sought by these healthcare travelers include orthopedic procedures like knee and hip replacement, angioplasty, oncology, in-vitro fertilisation, cardiology, plastic and reconstructive surgery and health screening." She said Thursday

She said this at the pre-announcement of the 1st Malaysia International Healthcare Travel Expo 2012 (MIHTE 2012) which will be held at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre for three days from Nov 5.

Dr Wong said the medical services offered by the healthcare facilities in Malaysia were on par with those in developed nations, and many of the private hospitals here had international accreditations, including the Joint Commission International (ICI) accreditation, as well as the Malaysia Society For Quality in Health (MSQH) accreditation.

She said previously, the promotion of Malaysia's healthcare had been made via word of mouth in the region, but now there was an increase of healthcare tourists from outside Asean and as far as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

"This is not surprising since the majority of the healthcare specialists were trained in these countries," she added.

Dr Wong said the council had also set up a careline, 03-27268688 to answer enquiries from foreign patients on Malaysian healthcare services and travel packages in English, Bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin, and e-mail service in Japanese and Arabic.

The careline service will assist the foreign patients to connect directly with the various healthcare centres in Malaysia. - Bernama