KUALA LUMPUR: The outlook of Malaysia’s medical tourism industry is expected to be positive in the long term with the burgeoning demand for healthcare services, both domestic and international, coming from especially an increasingly affluent and ageing population, due to reasonable pricing. However, Athila said, medical tourism was still a small contributor to the Malaysian economy, citing the figures by the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC). As of 2015, the revenue generated via medical tourism stood at RM1bil, contributed by more than 850,000 medical travellers to Malaysia and the government aimed to increase this to RM1.3bil. MIDF said the current currency condition has also made Malaysia a more attractive medical tourism destination as it became increasingly affordable to seek treatments here. “The government is also encouraging the private healthcare players, such as IHH Healthcare and KPJ Healthcare, to have their hospitals MHTC-certified to increase the chances of being the preferred medical tourism destination,” she said.

Source: The Star February 09, 2017 23:15 UTC