A unit of the health ministry has partnered with a Myanmar tour agency to bring in tourists to enjoy the world-class healthcare services in Malaysia.
Yangon :
Malaysia has linked up with a tour agency in Myanmar to boost the number of Myanmar nationals visiting the country for medical purposes, or medical tourism.
The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), an organisation set up by the Malaysian Ministry of Health to promote Malaysia as a unique destination for world-class healthcare services, has launched a year-long partnership with a local tourism agency.
The council also held its first Myanmar Sales Mission and Exhibition in Myanmar Plaza on June 17 and 18, according to a report in Myanmar Times.
The report quoted Vincent Gool, the regional director for market development of MHTC as saying that the number of Myanmar medical tourists to Malaysia was slowly increasing.
According to MHTC figures, 12,000 Myanmar patients visited Malaysia in 2015, compared with 10,000 in 2014.
“The biggest challenge we have is awareness. People do not know about Malaysia. I think everybody knows about [medical tourism in] Thailand, Singapore and India, but not Malaysia since we started late. In 2012 we were where Thailand and Singapore were 20 years ago,” Gooi was quoted as saying.
The Myanmar Times report said although the number of Myanmar patients travelling to Malaysia was increasing, the total still lagged far behind those travelling to Thailand and Singapore,
It said this was because Thailand had already implemented a visa exemption memorandum of understanding with the Myanmar Government and this made it easier for Myanmar nationals to travel there.
Singapore, too, had signed a similar MOU which is expected to be implemented in December.
The report said Malaysia was the only Asean country that had yet to sign a visa exemption agreement with Myanmar.
It quoted Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar Mohd Haniff Abd Rahman as saying Putrajaya was still reviewing visa requirements for Myanmar citizens.
Dr Mei Mei Ko, the chief editor of the medical magazine Ziwaka, was quoted as saying that medical tourism in other nations had increasingly attracted Myanmar patients over the last 15 years.
The report said this was partly due to the fact that Myanmar’s healthcare system had been neglected under the former military government.
source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com / FMT News / Home / FMT Reporter / June 21st, 2016
