Medical tourism - International Conference, Call For Paper ...

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Earlier, people went abroad mostly for elective cosmetic procedures which were not covered by insurances. Today, people outsource their orthopedic procedures as well as cardiac surgeries and organ transplants. It’s not just individuals who are interested in this trend to save money. Medical outsourcing has also received attention from health insurance companies who have started offering overseas treatment plans to expand their customer base, and from employers who have included it as a benefit to their employees Kazemi (2008). With the time past, the objectives of medical travel in past (old model) have changed to a new medical aspect of tourism (new market of today). The objectives for old model which was called medical travel can be divided to three main factors: self-paying clients from the Middle East, Asia or Latin America seeking care in the USA or Western Europe; specialists targeted on those where quality care and advanced equipments are not available in home countries; patients’ requirement for emergency care that not available in home countries. The objectives of new model (new market) can be classified into many factors. It was called medical tourism and has been expressed as waiting list lines for elective procedures in many developed countries such as England, opportunities to offer first class services at third world cost and combination of surgery with sightseeing tours. All these factors led the patient from developed counties to developing countries. 2.5 Medical tourism in Malaysia Statistics indicated a strong and growing interest in Malaysia’s healthcare tourism industry. According to Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM), the number of foreigners seeking healthcare services in Malaysia has grown from 75,210 patients in year 2001 to 296,687 patients in year 2006 which generated a total of RM203.66 million (USD 59 million) in revenue. This trend is likely to grow at a rate of 30 percent a year until 2010, projected by Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM). Tourism Malaysia, in collaboration with APHM and the Ministry of Health, has introduced tourist brochures and other promotions on Health Tourism in Malaysia for distribution throughout the world. 10
The brochure will promote Malaysia as a health tourist destination and will list the 35 private hospitals and 20 travel agencies in the country, which are participating in health tourism. Much of Malaysia’s attraction lies in the wide array of medical services and procedures including dental, cosmetic and cardiac surgeries at significantly lower costs compared with the United States. Also, foreign medical tourists and investors are attracted by Malaysia’s favourable exchange rate, political and economic stability and high rate of literacy, since Thailand still suffered from the political instability, some foreign medical tourist will choose Malaysia as their alternative for medical tourism destination, Nuwire Investors (2008). Competitive medical fees and modern medical facilities are two vital factors that make Malaysia a popular destination among health tourists. Patients can undergo treatment and recuperate in any part of the country for less than what it would cost them for a treatment in other countries. For example, a normal cardiac bypass surgery (CABG) in Malaysia would cost only between US$6,000 and US$7,000 (Tourism Malaysia, 2007). To ease entry formalities for patients, the Immigration Department of Malaysia has implemented the Green Lane System at main entry points which expedites custom clearance for medical tourists. Accompanying family members or friends of the patient can take advantage of their visit to Malaysia’s various interesting tourist attractions. Cities like Kuala Lumpur and Penang offer a truly comprehensive range of both health and tourism services, all within easy reach (Tourism Malaysia, 2007). Besides the Ministry of Health, a committee was formed to assist the promotion of health tourism. It comprised of the Ministry of Tourism, the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia and other government agencies such as the Malaysian Association of Tours and Travel Agencies, Malaysian Airlines and several private hospitals. This committee was called “The National Committee for the Promotion of Heath Tourism in Malaysia”. Membership of the committee has also been extended to several other agencies such as the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agencies, Malaysian Airlines System, the Primary Care Doctors’ 11
Page 1 and 2: MEDICAL TOURISM “INVESTIGATING TH
Page 3 and 4: tourist in the visiting country and
Page 5 and 6: Malaysia attracted an estimated 300
Page 7 and 8: These factors and competitive advan
Page 9: Mugomba and Caballero-Danell (2006)
Page 13 and 14: Accreditation or certification unde
Page 15 and 16: The sampling method which was writt
Page 17 and 18: 4.2 Penang Adventist Hospital Figur
Page 19 and 20: 4.3 Pantai Medical Center Figure 4.
Page 21 and 22: The pie chart above shows us the to
Page 23 and 24: First of all, the pricing of Malays
Page 25 and 26: able to analyse the profitability o
Page 27 and 28: REFERENCE Ang, E. (2009, February 1
Page 29: Lautier, M. (2008). Export of healt

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