Malaysia’s domestic medical travel opportunity

The Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) is asking the government to consider creating a green bubble for inbound medical travellers, to boost the country’s income.  But focusing on the country’s overlooked domestic medical tourists might be a better bet, suggests Ian Youngman.

APHM has suggested that the process could begin in two months as the government continues to loosen Covid-19 prevention restrictions and Malaysia heads towards a 100% fully vaccinated adult population.

Over the years, Malaysia has consistently been ranked one of the best destinations in the world for medical tourism.  Built on the basis of attracting international patients, the country is well known as a safe and trusted destination for a variety of treatments such as in-vitro fertilisation for women, cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, neurology, dental, aesthetics, and general health screenings.

The domestic medical tourism market in Malaysia has to date received less attention. Regaining international medical tourists, even for such a highly regarded destination, will not be easy, so hospitals and associations may need to reinvent themselves to cater to domestic healthcare travellers. And there are many citizens who travel to other cities and destinations in Malaysia to seek treatment because of the high-quality healthcare services on offer.

Domestic medical tourism is the industry’s sole hope of survival, possibly until 2023, say researchers at Malaysia’s Institute of Business Excellence at the Universiti Teknologi MARA. But hospitals have to be realistic – domestic visitor numbers have decreased by 45%, while average spending per trip has decreased by 30%. Only 4% of total expenditure is spent on medical and wellness activities.

Hospitals and medical tourism providers would need to rebrand themselves to capture the domestic market, including repackaging products to appeal to various local customer demographics. The middle-income group is the largest spender in Malaysia, and identifying products in medical and wellness is critical for domestic medical tourism to satisfy this group’s requirements.

To attract international tourists, medical providers have been branding Malaysia as a destination with competitive prices, while marketing certain hospitals and their packages. Strategies for local tourists would need to include highlighting certain specialists in certain hospitals, and promoting value for money and service quality when considered against Thailand, Indonesia, China, and India. They can stress that healthcare travellers seeking treatment can also avoid going through the hassle of international travel requirements amid the pandemic.

Some private hospitals in the country have started catering to domestic medical tourists. KPJ Healthcare, for example, with 28 specialist hospitals located throughout the nation, has put domestic healthcare tourism high on its agenda. Prior to the pandemic, KPJ’s medical tourism patient revenue contributed 73% to the overall earnings compared to local expatriates, which was at 28%. However, as of June this year, this trend and demand had shifted to local expatriate patients at 83%.

Focusing on medical tourism would definitely overcome some key barriers in rebuilding the domestic tourism industry, as healthcare declaration, safety issues, travel restrictions, and quarantine durations will not be an issue as these items will be managed by hospitals.

Malaysia’s hospitals only have a few months until borders are open to embrace domestic medical travel.

The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) says hospitals need to step up their medical tourism offerings to remain competitive and boost the confidence of healthcare travellers. While the council was established mainly to facilitate foreign healthcare travellers to private hospitals in Malaysia, MHTC recognises the role of domestic medical tourists in the sector’s recovery, post-pandemic.