Due to government support and world class infrastructure, the number of medical tourists in Malaysia will increase 17% a year until 2012, says a new report by analysts RNCOS, “Malaysia Medical Tourism Outlook 2012″.
Due to government support and world class infrastructure, the number of medical tourists in Malaysia will increase 17% a year until 2012, says a new report by analysts RNCOS, “Malaysia Medical Tourism Outlook 2012”.
Malaysia has become one of the top health tourism destinations in the world for medical tourists seeking cost effective treatment. The total number of medical tourist arrivals in the country reached 425,500 in 2009, due to a good healthcare infrastructure, government support through promotional programmes, and skilled medical professionals. It is estimated that, the total medical tourist arrivals in the country will reach 689,000 by 2012.
The report says that competitiveness in cost of medical treatment is a driving factor for the Malaysian medical tourism sector. The country offers complex medical treatments and services at considerable low prices compared to the developed world. For instance, the cost of knee replacement in Malaysia is US$8000 compared to
US$ 40,000 in the US for the same treatment.
Tropicana Medical Centre (TMC) in Kota Damansara, Petalaying Jaya, the flagship hospital of TMC Life Sciences, plans to increase its foreign patients to 30 % over the next three years. At present, foreign patients account for 5% of its total number and TMC aims to increase that to 10 % this year. Francis Lim of TMC explains, “If you look at successful hospitals in health tourism locally, they get 25 % to 30 % patients from overseas and we want to do that as well.”
TMC is increasing the number of partnership deals it has with organizations in Indonesia, and planning strategic affiliations with corporate partners from Bangladesh and Indo China this year to expand its services to a wider market and boost its visibility locally and regionally. TMC gets 20 Indonesian patients a month and hopes to increase that to 200 a month.
Deputy Minister of Health, Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, says India and Thailand are role models for making Malaysia an attractive destination for medical and healthcare tourism as it can generate a huge income for the country. The government intends to expand the healthcare sector through the 10th Malaysia Plan because there is a high demand at international level,” We should view India and Thailand as role models because they are the most popular in the world as a pioneer of healthcare industry where they give quality services and competitive price. We must continue to work hard to place Malaysia strategically as a medical tourism destination of choice. Malaysia can compete in the sector because the country’s health industry is on par when compared with others in the world.” The government will reform the healthcare system with focus on four key areas, transforming healthcare delivery, increasing capacity and coverage and improving quality of the healthcare structure, shifting towards wellness and disease prevention rather than treatment, and increasing the capacity and capabilities of human resources for health.
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