The Rise Of Malaysia As A Medical Tourism Haven

Jan. 2, 2016 - PRLog -- With more and more patients flocking to foreign countries for medical treatment, medical tourism, now capped at $38-55 billion is the new giant in healthcare industry.  More than 7 million patients chose medical treatment overseas owing to quality healthcare, less waiting time, financial savings and advanced treatments which were not available in their home countries. International hospitals accreditations, like Joint Commission International (JCI) ensures that hospitals abroad are safe and meet their standards of quality.

One of the recent developments in the healthcare market, is the boom of patients outbound from Indonesia to Southeast Asian countries, primarily Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India with Singapore leading the roster with their sophisticated medical facilities, cutting-edge treatments, cost effective packages and tourist destinations. But the table have turned now, Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country with Muslims comprising of about 60% of the total populace, wants to augment its visitor share in a conquest to claim its position as the Numero Uno healthcare service provider in medical tourism industry. And the biggest consumers of Malaysian healthcare services are Indonesians who make up 70 percent of its total inbound international patients.

Indonesians spend $12 billion annually on healthcare with more upper-class families seeking the convenience of much more sophisticated healthcare services. Every year, rich Indonesians spend more than a billion USD for their medical treatment abroad, with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and US being the main destinations.

Vaibhav Kataria, Marketing Analyst at http://www.medhalt.com said, “A Heart bypass surgery which costs $20,000 in Malaysia costs more than twice in Singapore. Hospital rooms and follow-up treatments are also cheaper which paves the way to bolster Malaysia’s presence in market. Conducting high-end surgeries non-invasively like heart bypass and orthopaedic procedures which do not require long recuperation period is also Malaysia’s strength which makes it stand out in the ever-growing competitive market of medical tourism.

Malaysia has adopted a low price-more patients strategy to establish a concrete base for its Medicare industry, but the number of patients coming in doesn’t necessarily metamorphose into higher revenue. Unlike their biggest competitors, Malaysia is not targeting really wealthy patients but tying up with various Governments to increase the number of inbound patients. Kazakhstan, Libya and Oman already have Government-to-Government agreements to send patients to Malaysia. Malaysia is also attracting Muslim patients being an Islamic nation itself through Halal treatments which prohibits the use of products forbidden under Islamic law. Malaysia has also launched a proper shariah-abiding airline to pursue a large share of Muslim market.

Vaibhav said, “MEDHALT aims to simplify Medical travel by acting as an interface between the patients and hospitals. By directly linking the patients to accredited hospitals, we save patient’s tedious effort to research, missed appointments, months of planning, insurance frauds and frustrations caused when patients reach out to hospital themselves. Currently, tied up with 50+ JCI accredited hospitals worldwide, MedHalt aims to become the leading medical tourism provider in the Southeast Asia region, including Malaysia.