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

Malaysia, Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Malaysia, MATRADE, the government agencies and the
private agencies.
Malaysia became a centre of medical excellence because of its high quality medical facilities and
services plus its highly trained and qualified medical specialists and staffs (Tourism Malaysia, 2007).
Malaysia’s natural attractiveness and most importantly the competitive medical fees provide additional
attractions to enrapture medical tourists to Malaysia.
1.2 Issues
Globalisation has caused many countries to re-evaluate their economical strengths and weaknesses, as
well as re-assess what products or services in which nations can benefit Morrison (2003). Nowadays,
medical tourism has grown tremendously in many countries such as Thailand and India. In 1990’s,
many Asian countries became the victims in Asian economic crisis. Thus, they need to find economic
diversification and solutions to settle this crisis. Malaysia is one of those countries. As a result, those
Asian countries started to involve in medical tourism.
In table 1.2.1is the statistics which shows the number of medical tourists who came to Malaysia has
been increasing from year to year.
Table 1.2.1: Number of International Patients and Revenue
Year Number of International Patients Revenue [(RM) ’million]
2001 75,210 44.3
2002 84,585 35.8
2003 102,946 58.9
2004 174,189 104.9
2005 232,161 150.9
2006 296,687 203.7
2007 341,288 253.84
(Source from APHM)
Through this statistical data, we understand that Malaysia has experienced an increasing number of
medical tourists over the years. However, Malaysia is still experiencing a smaller scale of medical
tourists compared to its neighbour countries such as Thailand and Singapore. According to Keckly and
Underwood (2008), in 2006:
Singapore attracted an estimated 410,000 medical tourists.
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