KUCHING: The immense potential from the medical tourism sector — which was described as ‘a hidden jewel’ — and the government’s efforts to drive this sub-sector augurs well for private healthcare service providers.
UNDER MANAGEMENT: Datin Paduka Siti Sa’adiah Sheikh Bakir (inset). Photo shows the Kuching Specialist Hospital which is under KPJ’s management.
One of those beneficiaries is KPJ Healthcare Bhd (KPJ) and in a recent online interview with The Borneo Post, the group’s managing director Datin Paduka Siti Sa’adiah Sheikh Bakir revealed her hopes for medical tourism in the country.
“Medical tourism is gaining popularity because people are increasingly realising that they can get good medical care in countries like Malaysia and at very competitive prices,” she believed.
“The opportunities for the development of medical tourism in Malaysia are immense.
“From this, there has been a surge in health-
care travellers to Malaysia over the past 10 years,
with much attention now being given to develop healthcare travel as an important niche market within the tourism industry,”
She went on to elaborate how healthcare industry players and analysts had reasoned that more people from advanced countries such as the US, UK and Europe were looking at Malaysia’s medical care as well as neighbouring countries as viable options for treatments which would comparatively entail a long waiting period in their respective home countries.
“This demand will drive the growth of medical and wellness service in Malaysia and other parts of Asia,” she concurred.
Siti also believed that the standard of healthcare services provided in Malaysia, particularly by private specialist hospitals, was on par with international benchmarks.
“This is because we continuously invest in the latest technology and human capital development. Many of our doctors in Malaysia are also educated and trained abroad and have gained valuable clinical experience from advanced countries,” she said.
“Malaysia has gained a reputation as one of the top five destinations for medical tourism, and this is definitely a reflection of the quality and standard of healthcare services available in Malaysia.
“With a comprehensive network of hospitals and clinics in the country, Malaysia offers a wide array of medical services and procedures and at significantly lower costs compared with some of the advanced countries. And yet, you will see that our medical facilities and doctors’ knowledge and skills are comparable to the advanced countries,” she revealed.
“Malaysia has all the right ingredients to become the healthcare hub of the region or the world and in order to achieve that, all the industry players and the government have to collectively work together to promote Malaysia to the world.”
The managing director went on to explain that the government had taken the first step in providing greater incentives and in setting up the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council to enhance promotional efforts including facilitation of issuing visas to patients upon arrival.
“Yes, East Malaysia definitely has good potential for development of medical tourism, given the many attractions in the states of Sabah and Sarawak,” she further elaborated.
“We believe that East Malaysia can be a major health tourism destination and we intend to promote our hospitals in these two states to potential medical tourists.
“We have been seeing good growth in our hospitals in East Malaysia. KPJ sees immense potential in this area and we also believe that the healthcare market is large and relatively untapped in many areas,” she affirmed.
“We are always open to new opportunities to expand our network, whether in the peninsula or in East Malaysia, but at the right terms and conditions. In Sarawak, we may need to build a new hospital there to support the growing demand. We are keen on Miri and Sibu too,” she concluded.