For as low as US$700, you can have a four-night stay at Kuala Lumpur’s Shangri-La, a city tour, and an “executive health screening” which includes a medical consultation and blood and urine tests. For the same price, you can have a basic dental treatment instead, which features a dental x-ray, some fillings and a treatment plan under Malaysia’s medical tourism campaign.
This was the offer made by Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council representatives in their recent visit to New Zealand. About 2,000 New Zealanders visited Malaysia as medical tourists and the government-run council plans to increase the numbers. This is something it has been aggressively marketing since it was set up in 2009.
Medical tourism increased ten-fold in as many years and is one of the top revenue earners for the country. The country is going to great pains to make sure this sector continues to earn big bucks. Even to the extent of ensuring there is a special lounge for medical tourists at Kuala Lumpur international airport (KLIA) and Penang International Airport.
Latest boost to Malaysia’s healthcare sector
IHH Healthcare Bhd, Asia’s largest hospital operator by market value and world’s second-largest listed healthcare operator by market capitalisation, recently announced expansion plans. It plans to add 3,000 beds to its existing 7,000 beds by 2017 through new hospitals and expansion of current ones, and is also looking for mergers and acquisitions to accommodate the expected increase in medical tourism. IHH Healthcare is 43.6 per cent owned by Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s main government-linked investment company.
Last month, a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) on co-operation was signed between Malaysian hospitals and Vietnamese insurance companies in Hanoi. The signing ceremony, organised by Insmart Co Ltd, saw the inclusion of Malaysia’s National Heart Institute, one of the leading cardiovascular and thoracic health centres in the region, Malaysian private hospitals Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care and Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur, with insurance providers in Vietnam, including Post and Telecommunication Joint Stock Insurance Corporation, Vietinbank Insurance Company and Petrolimex Insurance Corporation.
This means Malaysian hospitals will be complementing the Vietnamese insurance companies’ service and Vietnamese policyholders will be heading to Malaysia for their medical needs. More than 5,000 Vietnamese medical tourists visited Malaysia for healthcare treatment in the 2013-14 period. The figure was expected to double this year, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council CEO Sherene Azli was quoted as saying.
Another big player in private healthcare and healthcare tourism, KPJ Healthcare Bhd announced plans to increase its revenue from medical tourism to RM90 million this year from RM78 million in 2014 (US$24 million and US$21 million). “Most of KPJ’s medical tourism patients are from Southeast Asia (Indonesia), the Middle East (Libya) and East Africa (Somalia) among others, and they are here seeking our expertise, be it in oncology, orthopaedics, neurology or heart treatment”, according to their spokesman.
Medical tourism dollars
Malaysia recently won the Medical Travel “Destination of the Year 2015″ award, a prestigious accomplishment presented by UK’s International Medical Travel Journal. Efforts are being made to make sure medical tourism dollars keep rolling into the country.
Tourism and Culture Ministry undersecretary Alan Abdul Rahim was quoted as saying Malaysia attracted almost 800,000 medical tourists in 2014, from 770,000 in 2013. Earnings last year are estimated at RM730 million (US$195 million). For the 11th Malaysia Plan period, the income from medical tourism is expected to grow 15 per cent annually, generating revenue of about RM2 billion (US$530 million) by 2020.
source: http://www.establishmentpost.com / The Establishment Post / Home> Views & News> Healthcare> Finger on the Pulse / by Vanitha Nadaraj / June 18th, 2015
