lu bace dox

7/29/2019 lu bace dox

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lu-bace-dox 1/20

1

FACULTY ECONOMY AND MANAGEMENT

MGM 3304

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

GROUP PROJECT:

THE FACTOR THAT ATTRACTING FOREIGNER TO GET MEDICAL TREATMENT IN

MALAYSIA

2010/2011



2

GROUP 1

Contents

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Globalization and trade in health care 21.2 Issues 2-3

2.0 The market for medical tourism 3-5

3.0 Introduction- Ethical 5-63.1 Illegal Organ donation and transplantation 6-7 3.2 Is Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ethical? 7

4.0 legal issues 8-9

5.0 Why do people come to get the medical treatment in Malaysia?5.1 Advance in technology 105.2 Healthcare 11-125.3 Medical services 12-135.4 Lower cost 13-15

6.0 Recommendations 16-176.1 Recommendations in our opinions 17-18

Conclusion 19

References 20

List of Figure:Figure 1: Number of International Patients and Revenue 2

Figure 2: market services provided in Malaysia 3

Figure 3: News about Malaysia in top 5 for medical tourism 4

Figure 4: Example of illegal donation organ 6

Figure 5: CT Scanner by GE: Kuala Lumpur Malaysia health 10

Figure 6: Medical staff in Malaysia 13

Figure 7: cost comparison with the UK 14-15



3

Medical Tourism In Malaysia

1.0 Introduction

Medical tourism refers to the many patients that are currently traveling overseas for immediate and affordable treatment. Caballero-Danell and Mugomba (2007) defines medicaltourism as the pursuit of medical care abroad and simultaneously engage in moreconventional forms of tourism. It is an emerging phenomenon in the health care industry. Inaddition, tourism is different from the traditional form of international medical care wherepatients typically journey from less developed nations to major medical centers in highlydeveloped countries for advanced medical treatment. This means even patients from ahighly developed country such as The United States, United Kingdom or France can go tothose developing countries such as Malaysia and its neighbors for medical treatment. Inshort, medical tourism is the attempt by patients to seek for a qualified and high qualitymedical health care at foreign countries at an affordable price or cheaper price.

It does not limit to traveling to modern countries to seek for better service but mostimportant is the affordable price with the same quality of service. This combination of surgeryand tourism is a relatively new type of nonexclusive niche tourism that promises to havesignificant growth over the next few years. Experts found as health care costs haveincreased tremendously, patients in the developed world are looking overseas for medicaltreatment and patients in developed countries always suffer from long waiting time. Theyhave to take turns to wait for the medical treatment. Thus, consumers commit to traveloverseas for their medical treatment. Often, consumer will also take the opportunity to be atourist in the visiting country and enjoy what it has to offer. Therefore, consumers maycombine their holiday and medical care into one venture. Besides that, medical tourists seek

for medical tourism because those foreign countries offer a better price with the sameservice provided. Patients also travel to medical tourism destinations for procedures that arenot available in their own countries such as stem cell therapy for heart failure. Other reasonsfor medical tourism are the natural attractiveness in the foreign countries, the medicalexpertise and the medical quality. All of these are interrelated and needed to be developedin order to become a competitive medical tourism.

1.1 Globalization and trade in healthcare

Medical tourism in Asia is relatively new.

Medical tourism was brought on in the



4

aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis that led private hospitals to seek alternative revenuesources. Malaysia started to be actively participating in medical tourism since 1998 with thesetting up of the National Committee for The Promotion of Medical and Health Tourism. InMalaysia, the medical solutions range from traditional medicine to telemedicine. Under Malaysia’s health tourism promotion drive, there are 35 private hospitals in Malaysia whichhave been chosen to promote Malaysia as a health tourist destination. These 35 privatehospitals are members of the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM). Besidesthat, these hospitals have been awarded the certification for internationally recognizedstandards for example MS 9002 or accreditation by the Malaysian Society for Quality inHealth and ISO 9001 Gupta (2005). Malaysia achieved some success in establishing as aregional hub for good health care and its ability in providing state-of-the-art medical facilitiesand services for medical tourists (Ministry of Health). Malaysia became a centre of medicalexcellence because of its high quality medical facilities and services plus its highly trainedand qualified medical specialists and staffs. Malaysia’s natural attractiveness and mostimportantly the competitive medical fees provide additional attractions to enrapture medicaltourists to Malaysia.

1.2 Issues

Globalization has caused many countries to re-evaluate their economical strengthsand weaknesses, as well as re-assess what products or services in which nations canbenefit. Nowadays, medical tourism has grown tremendously in many countries such asThailand and India. In 1990’s, many Asian countries became the victims in Asian economiccrisis. 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 inmedical tourism. In table below there are some statistics which shows the number of medicaltourists who came to Malaysia has been increasing from year to year.

(Source from APHM)

Figure 1: Number of International Patients and RevenueThrough this statistical data, we understand that Malaysia has experienced an

increasing number of medical tourists over the years. However, Malaysia is still experiencinga smaller scale of medical tourists compared to its neighbour countries such as Thailand andSingapore. Statistics also show that in the year 2006:

Singapore attracted an estimated 410,000 medical tourists.

Malaysia attracted an estimated 300,000 medical tourists.Thailand attracted an estimated 1,200,000 medical tourists.

While in the year of 2007, India attracted an estimated 450,000 medical tourists. The

Year

Number of international

patients Revenue [(RM) 'million]2001 75.210 44.3

2002 84.585 35.8

2003 102.946 58.92004 174.189 104.9

2005 232.161 150.9

2006 296.687 203.7

2007 341.288 253.84



5

data stated above reveals Malaysia is the country that has least medical tourists. This smallamount of medical tourists indirectly reflects the quality and the reputation of Mala ysia’smedical tourism.

2.0 The market for medical tourism

Figure 2: market services provided in Malaysia

The Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB, Tourism Malaysia) is embarking ona three-year project to collect market data on health tourism, as the country seeks toincrease the number of people visiting the country for medical treatment. According toanalyses, healthcare expenditure in Malaysia is driven by increased privatization within thehealthcare service provision. The market for healthcare services has also received a positiveimpetus from health tourism.

Malaysia healthcare tourism grew at a rate of 25.3 percent a year since 1998, whilerevenues posted a growth of 37.9 percent during the same period. By 2010, medical tourismrevenue per patient is estimated to reach 90. This signifies the growth of foreign confidencein more advanced medical care services in Malaysia. Most international patients come fromneighboring countries with less developed medical infrastructure (mainly Indonesia), andother developed countries from the West. Malaysia is also a preferred destination for theseinternational patients due to the higher foreign exchange rate in Singapore and unstablepolitical scene in Thailand.

http://www.tourism.gov.my/

http://www.tourism.gov.my/



6

Figure 3: News about Malaysia in top 5 for medical tourism

According to Frost & Sullivan’s Dr. Pawel Suwinski, in 2006, the bulk of foreignpatients came from Indonesia (65-70 percent), followed by Japan (5-6 percent), Europe (5percent) and India (3 percent). There are an increasing number of patients from MiddleEastern countries (particularly U.A.E., Qatar and Saudi Arabia).

The Malaysian government has set up several referral gateways to assist medicaltourists. One of them is the health tourism website that assists medical tourists globally.Private hospital groups and major private hospital providers have set up departments to dealwith international patients. Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre and Hospitals Pantai are amongthose that have set up international customer departments specifically for the admission andsupport of international patients. KPJ Medical Group, Mahkota Hospital and Subang JayaMedical Center have established tie-ups with several travel agencies and hotels to providecomprehensive tourism packages in conjunction with healthcare services, as well as settingup representative or referral offices.

Healthcare in Malaysia is mainly dominated by private hospitals. 62 percent of thetotal hospitals in Malaysia are privately owned. The number of private hospitals increaseddramatically from 50 in 1980 to an estimated of 223 private hospital last year. Thegovernment has built 10 public hospitals in the past 4 years to increase the number to 140.The Malaysian government is promoting medical tourism. It has extended the visa period for health tourists from one month to six months. Major hospitals in Malaysia are targeting newmarkets such as Vietnam and Cambodia. Africans are now coming to Malaysia because it ischeaper to do so rather than go to Europe where they used to go previously. MalaysianPrime Minister Najib Razak recently said.” Medical tourism is a high priority to positionMalaysia as a world-class healthcare services provider. The government will invest ineducation and technology. The key is to make sure Malaysia’s regulatory environment isready to support investment.

From marketing materials (both newspapers and web-based sites) it is apparent that therange of the treatments available overseas include:

Cosmetic surgery (breast, face, liposuction) Dentistry (cosmetic, reonstruction) Cardiology/cardiac surgery (by-pass, valve replacement) Orthopaedic surgery (hip replacement, resurfacing, knee replacement, joint

surgery) Bariatric surgery (gastric by-pass, gastric banding) IVF/reproductive system (IVF, gender ressignment) Organ and tissue replacement (organ transplantation; stem cell) Eye surgery Diagnostics and checkups.

3.0 Introduction- Ethical

Medical tourism is one of the most lucrative industries in the world today. Countrieslike India, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Hong Kong and China earn huge revenue yearly from

treatment from citizens of other countries. Countries are not at the same level in terms of

http://www.malaysiahealthcare.com/

http://gimc.tmsasia.com/

http://www.pantai.com.my/

http://www.kpjhealth.com.my/

http://www.mahkotamedical.com/

http://www.mahkotamedical.com/

http://www.kpjhealth.com.my/

http://www.pantai.com.my/

http://gimc.tmsasia.com/

http://www.malaysiahealthcare.com/



7

their infrastructural and health care developments. Citizens from countries with poor infrastructural and health facilities will always seek for medical relief abroad. There aredifferent conditions which may warrant one seeking for medical treatment abroad. Themedical tourism phenomenon is growing. However it leads legal and ethical issuescontribute to the increase of medical tourism cases too. Next, this article will explain fivemajor ethical issues in medical tourism, but will discuss two issues that warm in Malaysia.

Five Ethical Issues in Medical Tourism

1. Illegal organ and tissue Tissue is often taken from corpses which have not signed their organs away or illegalpurchase of organs and tissues for transplantation. The organ may not be up toprofessional standards, and can cause damage.

2. Inequality between the classes.Have argued that in countries that are in the class system is still unclear, the possibility of the Medical Tourism creates further divide between the classes is not possible.

3. Exploitation.In any other situation, tourists are exploited and taken for all their worth. Apparently, thesame can be said for medical tourists. Occasionally doctors will commit to medicalprocedures which have not been proven as a means of securing clients. The naiveté of apatient unfamiliar with the hospital’s past may fall victim to this.

4. Stem Tissue Countries which use stem cells or partake in stem cell research are more likely to getclients because of the many advances stem cells can bring about. However the issueover whether stem cells are ethical is still a hot topic.

5. Tourists overtaking homeland rights.

It has been argued that the medical tourists flocking abroad have diminished the amountof care doctors can provide the people actually living within the country.

3.1 Illegal organ donation and transplantation

Organ transplant tourism is not a fad nor a fashion, but a serious 21st centuryproblem for health service providers and governments. Numerous ethical questions havebeen raised regarding tissue and organ transplantation procedures. This include whether human beings have the right to give away a part of their body

such as the kidney or a portion of their liver, whether it is allright to harvest body parts of a cadaver and how availableparts are assigned to those who are in need of them.

Nowadays in rich countries, patients are willing to payhigh prices to purchase the organ, whereas in poor countries,people are willing to sell their organs in order to gain moneyto support your family. Although these transactions (betweenbuyer and seller) often seem to be a win-win situation,however it lead legal and ethical issues contribute to theincrease of medical tourism cases too.



8

Moreover, some countries provide "transplant tourism “package. China, Colombia,India, Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines also involve in offers organ transplants for patients under the international circumstances. This can see like patients are buying akidney during travelling abroad. That also means a desperately poor person is putting their health to earn money for survive in world. This issue was a huge ethical for considerations.

Figure 4: Example of illegal donation organMalaysia had cases about a patient willing to pay RM50000 for a kidney. According

to Sunday Star, Nov 2007, an extraordinary advertisement put up at the busy Pudu area.The content show that a kidney patient willing to pay RM 50,000 for a kidney and provide acontact number for interest seller to reach the buyer. When Sunday Star reporter contacted,a man who picked up the phone told that his cousin was a kidney patient, he need a kidneytransplant from Chinese donor. The man also told Sunday Star reported about they werelooking for a Chinese donor only. There is no chance for some other race or religion.

3.2 Is Embryonic Stem Cell Research Ethical?

What is embryonic? Embryonic stem cells are derived from a four- or five-day-oldhuman embryo that is in the blast cyst phase of development. The embryos are usuallyextras that have been created in IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinics where several eggs arefertilized in a test tube, but only one is implanted into a woman. Innovative research andnew technologies for the stem cells was raise ethical and policy concerns. This is particularlyso in any biomedical application, such as stem cell research, where ethical issues are oftenraised.

The main reason argument claims that using embryonic stem cells for research ismurder. This camp believes life begins at conception (the fertilization of the embryo), andthat using embryos in research is the same as murdering babies.

Although many people do not agree to do stem cell research, but the Government isshowing more support for stem cell research. According to New Straits Times, May 28,2008: Malaysia Government's support for stem cell research with the agreed allocation of RM32 million to develop and strengthen the stem cell and cord blood banking activities in thecountry.

Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai told, however stem cell research and treatmentneed to be in the ethical guidelines that have been agreed. He also said that the clinical use

of embryonic stem cells are not allowed, while all forms of experimental stem cell therapy for



9

myocardial infarction, spinal injury, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy need to be approvedby the Research and Ethics Committee.

4.0 Legal issues

The healthcare system hospitals in Malaysia majority offering services to medicaltourists are privately owned institutions following internationally recognized standards inhealthcare. Currently, there are at least 35 hospitals in Malaysia that are being gearedtowards medical tourism. All are accredited locally by the Malaysian Medical Society for Quality of Health (MSQH) and are licensed by the Malaysian Ministry of Health. Most of these hospitals are accredited by international bodies including the International

Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Joint Commissions International (JCI) amongothers. Healthcare and medical tourism have become a matter of global concern today.Healthcare has become a global concern. In a competitive global market where informationis shared instantly, consumers have all the knowledge and choices at their disposal. Theinternet enables the patients to seek out the best service providers, to make comparisons bythemselves or to find out brokers and specialists services provider in host country.

There are many legal issues associated which should be taken into considerationbefore traveling on a medical trip. The idea of legal recourse is something all medical touristsneed to consider before travelling. Most medical facilities catering to foreign patients haveinternational accreditations and affiliations with esteemed to establish a high level of quality.However, physicians are still likely to make errors, in which case a patient should be able to

receive retribution in the form of medical malpractice. Legal or law is the rule to be followedby all parties and legal is one thing that has been designated by the government, becausethe law is very important for every country. This law depends on a place because the law isnot the same for all states in Malaysia and Overseas.

Tourism can help to rebuild a damaged city due to natural disaster. Receivingmedical care abroad may subject tourists to unfamiliar legal issues. What type of medicalhas related to medical treatments is associated with certain difficulties such as arranging thepaperwork for example visa, insurance and others. Whatever documents had been preparedit is required to check accuracy and completeness as well as all needed details such asphotos, signatures, seals, and others. Some papers will have to be translated into a foreignlanguage and oftentimes legalized to be valid in a foreign country. These issues arefrequently delegated to lawyers. A number of questions naturally arise in regards to triparrangement and primarily concern establishing legal relationship with the service provider by the agency, insurance company, clinic, and others.

For example contractual relations should without fail be upheld by means of enteringof civil contract in writing. The contract may be concluded directly with medical or rehabilitation institutions or through an intermediary agency, insurance company, or others.Before signing a contract it is strongly recommended to consider properly the details of theparties and authority of persons entering the contract. Legal person introduced without thepower of attorney should be represented by its head officer as opposed to the manager. Incase if reading a copy contract and don’t understand of how correctly the contents regulates

the legal relationship and guarantees protection. The most important thing must do is to

http://www.msqh.com.my/


http://www.moh.gov.my/

http://www.moh.gov.my/





10

avoid signing the not real or not genuine the contents of document agreements. Thecontents of agreements is very important to understanding because of the world countryprovide medical services must have legal procedure to give a treatment for parties. All theparties must follow what type of legal in medical tourism. In most cases it is associated withreproductive IVF programmers with surrogacy or donation, stem cell application, organtransplantation, induced abortions and others, because to avoid legal conflicts in both thedestination of choice for medical interventions and consequently in the home country, it isrecommended to consult a competent lawyer in advance.

In this issues of legal medical tourism have several questions and related to legal inmedical treatment. For example the questions is what if I decide not to do my surgery, will Ibe able to get my money back? In the perspective legal contents in medical tourism is it’sdepends on the policy of the hospital have chosen, as well as when cancel the procedure.The procedure in medical is very important to know, because if don’t know the policy of medical tourism will give an implications such as when do the surgery and somethinghappen we don’t know how to solve the problem. When we do the treatments at hospital wemust follow the policy of medical. Any things before to do the treatment, surgery or others at

hospitals must have an agreement from the parties either agree to do the medical treatmentor not. Especially foreign come to Malaysia because want to get a medical treatment, theymust know the procedure of medical in this country because the legal medical tourism inMalaysia not same with their country depends on the policy of the country. The issuesbecame an illegal because one of the doctors sale the organ of human to other peoplewithout the permission from their family or signing the agreement.

The important legal in medical is to protect, support and safeguard the character andinterests of legally qualified health care practitioners. The main of build hospitals in our country is to help people or give a treatment for their health, because in life not all people willnot sick but have sentences people need medical checkup for their health. In the world wemust follow the law or legal because all things have a legal and law. Legal or law also very

important because to help solve the problem, or to punish who had done malpractice.Foreign people also must follow the rules when enter to Malaysia for a treatment or medical,because the rules at their country is very different not all country must same rules but it’sdepends on the country especially in medical tourism.

5.0 Why do people come to get the medical treatment in Malaysia?

5.1 Advance in technology

Technology Medical tourism in Malaysia is increasingly using technology as a meansto improve productivity, competitiveness and customer service while also cutting cost.Malaysia hospitals always provide new medical technology to help specialist do their jobvery easily. For example if the doctor want do the minor surgery for their patients, they don’tneed knife to make operation because they just using laser technology. This technology canmake the operation more effective and efficient because technologies laser speedy recoveryand no surgical wounds. As we all know, with the technology advance all hospital can fulfillthe customers need. Here we can see with the demand for medical technology to increase inMalaysia by 15% per annum in line with both public and private hospital expansion plans thetiming of Asia Medical will be perfect for suppliers to use the event as a key platform for driving future business growth.



11

Today we can see a lot of technology did develop in Malaysia to fulfill the customersneed. With a Government initiative to upgrade and expand existing facilities for the localpopulation and the ever increasing medical tourism market, the stage is set for a premier international medical technology exhibition to make its debut here in Kuala Lumpur.Examples of advanced technologies used in medicine include medications such as targetedtherapies for cancer, antidepressants, medical and surgical procedures, medical devicessuch as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans,screening tests such as fecal occult blood test for colorectal cancer, electronic supportsystems such as telemedicine, and electronic medical records.

Beside that the applications of medical technologies include diagnosis of diseases(X-ray), treatment of diseases (chemotherapy for cancer), prevention of diseases(immunization), screening for diseases (mammography), rehabilitation (physical therapy),automation and reducing errors (computerized order physician entry) and improving qualityof life of patients (artificial legs and arms). With this technology not possible if we saytechnology in Malaysia standing with oversea technology.

Figure 5: CT Scanner by GE: Kuala Lumpur Malaysia health

5.2 Healthcare

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease, illness, injury, andother physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitionersin medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and allied health. The exact configuration of health caresystems varies from country to country, but in all casesrequires a robust financing mechanism; a well-trained andadequately paid workforce; reliable information on whichto base decisions and policies; and well maintainedfacilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines andtechnologies.

Malaysia Healthcare is home to world classfacilities in cardiac care driven by doctors who have beentrained and experienced in some of the noteworthyinstitutions of the West. Our success rates and practicemethodology are comparable with the best hospitals in the world. Our latest offering is themuch talked about and highly acknowledged robotic heart surgery that uses a computer enhanced system to perform highly complicated cardiac surgeries with extreme accuracy

and precision. Malaysia’s health care industry offers a full range of elective and non-elective

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illness



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentistry


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursing


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_health


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_system




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Human_Resources














12

medical procedures at rates radically lower than those of most Western countries. Theexchange rate of the Malaysian Ringgit allows visitors to avail themselves of services whichwould be prohibitively expensive at home.

Beside that for the smile that lasts forever, healthcare medical tourism provides youwith Malaysia’s best dental practices. Our range of treatments caters to aesthetic as well asgeneral dental practices with prices that are a true steal. They are provided in highlyequipped facilities with exceptional standards of sterilization procedures. Malaysia alsooffers dental packages which are the perfect combination of your holiday and treatmentrequirements. Alternatively, you may also customize your holiday cum treatment plans usingour services.

Moreover Malaysia healthcare provides comprehensive tertiary eye care service aswell as treatment for complex eye problems, which is made possible by its state-of-the-arttechnical facilities for diagnostic testing and treatment of eye disease and vision problems. Also recreate an aesthetic look and revive your precious youth through the multiple andeffective solutions of cosmetic surgery Malaysia healthcare can offer. We ensure that you

receive the maximum benefits out of your treatment in Malaysia by ensuring qualitytreatment under maximum confidentiality.

Healthcare tourism in Malaysia always make sure their customers can get the goodservice and the important things is the costumers can take care their health and avoid or safe them from any dangerous dieses. So to achieve this mission, a lot of health care diddevelop in Malaysia to give service not just for local people but for abroad customers also.Moreover majority of hospitals offering services to medical tourists are privately ownedinstitutions following internationally recognized standards in healthcare.



13

Healthcare in Malaysia involved healthcare facilities. Most hospitals in Malaysia offer a wide range of accommodation from comfortable to luxurious, including private rooms andconnected rooms. Meals included and the cost of hospital stays is based on the level of services required as there are medical centers that provide private servers and full-timenurses. Overnight facilities are also available for couples or friends of patients. In addition,the low-cost services and high living standards here, a long-term visit to an attractive optionfor foreign visitors.

However, the most interesting things for visitors to receive medical treatment inMalaysia are a period of rest and recuperation is spent here. Patients have the opportunity toenjoy the sightseeing and tourist activities while they wait for the recovery period. A visit tothe beach can be arranged, even more so because there are several medical centerslocated here near the beach or popular tourist areas.

5.3 Medical services

Firstly about quality of medical staff, many doctor in Malaysia study abroad for example UK, USA and Australia. After complete their study, they can use knowledge andskill that their learned at abroad to give high quality service for their costumers not only tolocal people but their provide service for international patients also. In addition, Doctors andstaff practicing at Malaysian international hospitals are English-speaking and internationallytrained. Over 90 percent of these doctors were trained in the UK, USA or Australia, and insome cases are involved in international medical research. Beside that almost doctors inMalaysia have a lot of experience same with international doctors and they can speakEnglish very well. This factor gives advantage for them to give good service for patients andcommunicate very fluent with their patients, so this can make the international patients notfeel doubtful and feel comfortable to get medical service in Malaysia.



14

Medical service in Malaysia also involved service from nurse. Nurse in Malaysia havetraining for higher courses after learning four year basic about medical education. Nursesthat have skill in medical can help doctor to give faster service for their patients and when

patients feel satisfaction with service that a given, as a result this can make a long termrelationship between patients and doctors in Malaysia. Moreover this can encouragecostumers to come back in Malaysia to get the other service because they convince and feelhappy with service that provided before this.

Beside that medical service tourism focuses on hospitality for their patients becausethis is important thing that Malaysia has. The hospitality means the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way. So all doctorsand nurse in Malaysia must have hospitality attitude to make sure the patients that comefrom abroad will feel familiar with Malaysia environment and make they not feel like apatients but as a friends. The effect from this attitude is encourage many people from abroadcame to Malaysia and this give opportunity for Malaysia to become popular or famous not

only in medical service but also famous in hospitality.



15

Figure 6: Medical staff in Malaysia

5.4 Lower cost

Lower cost is one of the most important factors in medical tourism. This factor is aone reason why year by year total patients that come from abroad increase in the highquantity and this not become surprising. According to the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM), the majority of Malaysia's medical tourists come from Indonesia mainlydue to the superior quality of healthcare that Malaysia offers. The same reason draws healthtravelers from other Asian countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. Patients from richer Asian countries like Singapore and Japan, (which are the second and third highest origins of

medical travelers respectively), visit Malaysia due to the lower prices of medical procedures. Australians and people from the European Union are attracted to the lower cost of medicalprocedures in Malaysia, whilst Middle Eastern medical travelers visit Malaysia for both theprice and the quality of healthcare provided.

One research has been conducted and found competitiveness in cost structure of medical treatments is a unique and driving factor for the Malaysian medical tourism sector.The country offers some of the complex medical treatments and services at considerable lowprices compared to the developed world. For instance, the cost of knee replacement inMalaysia is US$ 8,000 compared to US$ 40,000 in the US for the same treatment.



16

Cost comparison with the UK

General and Cosmetic Dentistry

Procedure UK Hospitals Malaysia Average Savings

Face Lift (rhytidectomy) $11,000 - $12,000 $2,500 - $3,500 70% - 77%

Breast Augmentation (Mammoplasty) $7,000 - $8,000 $3,000 - $4,000 50% - 57%

Breast Reduction $8,000 - $9,000 $3,000 - $4,000 55% - 63%

Breast Lift $2,000 - $3,000 $900 - $1,000 55% - 67%

Tummy Tuck $6,000 - $7,000 $2,000 - $2,500 64% - 67%

Liposuction (lipoplasty) $5,000 - $6,000 $2,000 - $3.000 50% - 60%

Nose Surgery (Rhinoplasty) $5,500 - $6,500 $2,000 - $2,500 61% - 64%

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Procedure UK Hospitals Malaysia Average Savings

Porcelain Bonded Crowns $950 - $1,000 $150 - $200 80% - 84%

Root Canal (per canal) $300 - $400 $200 - $250 33% - 38%



17

Figure 7: cost comparison with the UK

The report “Malaysia Medical Tourism Outlook 2012” covers all the key aspects of the Malaysian medical tourism sector, and analyzes current market trends and their impact

on the future performance. It also analyzes the cost structure of different treatments andmakes comparisons among Malaysia and the other leading countries of the world. Moreover,the report provides a prudent analysis on the revenue patterns regarding the medical tourismsector in Malaysia.

6.0 Recommendations

Malaysia's got big potential for medical tourism. The hospitals are very good, spoken Englishis better than in many countries and a lot of Malaysian doctors trained in the UK and Australia.

Pantai Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur

Cost comparison with the USA

Medical Procedures

Procedure US Hospitals Malaysia Average Savings

Angioplasty $55,000 - $57,000 $7,500 - $8,500 80% - 86%

Heart Bypass$120,000 -$130,000

$11,500 - $12,500 90% - 91%

Heart-valve Replacement$150,000 -$160,000

$14,500 - $15,500 90% - 91%

Hip Replacement $41,000 - $43,000 $9,500 - $10,500 75% - 77%Hysterectomy $18,000 - $20,000 $3,500 - $4,500 77% - 81%

Knee Replacement $38,000 - $40,000 $7,500 - $8,500 78% - 80%

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Procedure US Hospitals Malaysia Average SavingsFace Lift (rhytidectomy) $7,000 - $9,000 $2,500 - $3,500 61% - 64%Breast Augmentation(Mammoplasty)

$5,000 - $8,000 $3,000 - $4,000 40% - 50%

Breast Reduction $4,000 - $6,000 $3,000 - $4,000 25% - 33%

Complete Liposuction (lipoplasty) $4,000 - $6,500 $2,000 - $3.000 50% - 53%

Nose Surgery (Rhinoplasty) $5,500 - $6,500 $2,000 - $2,500 61% - 63%

General and Cosmetic Dentistry

Procedure US Hospitals Malaysia Average Savings

Root Canal $600 - $1,000 $200 - $250 67% - 75%Porcelain Crown $600 - $1,000 $150 - $200 75% - 80%



18

Posh patients can enjoy deluxe accommodation at Pantai's Royal and Premier Suites. Thisincludes the services of a bow-tied butler, satellite TV and digs more Regent Hotel thanrecovery room. Some even have a one-way mirror for your personal security guard to checkup on you.

Mahkota Medical Centre, Melaka

This 356-bed hospital offers homely hostel rooms in the same block for visiting familymembers. The center's specialties include affordable caesarean delivery and open-heartsurgery. Outpatients might want to consider Mahkota's three-day/two-night health-screeningpackages, which include tours of the historic town and even transportation to a local golf course.

Beautiful Holidays, Penang

Marketed to Europeans through the Internet, Beautiful Holidays (beautiful-holidays.com) is atour company providing plastic-surgery packages in conjunction with the Loh Guan LyeCentre, a 25-year-old private hospital in Penang. The most popularly requested operations:liposuction and tummy tucks. "Our customers enjoy the anonymity," says MarloesGiezenaar, Beautiful Holidays' managing director. "They fly in, recuperate around the pool,and fly out again without anyone noticing they've been under the knife." The company canalso arrange post surgery tours of Penang.

Country Heights Medical Tourism (CHMT), Kuala Lumpur

The country's only medical screening center within a five-star resort, CHMT offers patients abattery of diagnostic tests (including fluoroscopy and abdominal ultrasounds) and the results

five hours later. Pass the time by taking a water taxi to the neighboring Mines Shopping Fair for a bout of retail therapy.

Gleneagles, Pantai Medical Centre in KL and Loh Guan Lye Specialist Centre andIsland Hospital in Penang

Packages cover a full spectrum of health problems, and prices range from basic healthscreening (RM450) to angioplasty (RM15,000), cataract surgery (RM27,000), total kneereplacement (RM15,000, inclusive of five days’ ward stay and meals), liposuction(RM5,000)and abdominoplasty (RM7000).

Whether one seeks critical or not-so-urgent medical treatment like preventive procedures,cosmetic surgery or corrective dental work, Malaysia has a lot to offer with highly trained andexperienced doctors, surgeons and paramedics, latest healthcare facilities and medicalprocedures, five-star hotel accommodation, affordable apartments and a warm tropicalparadise for post-operative recuperation.

Moreover, English is widely used, especially in urban areas. Combine this with her unbeatable offering of Asian and international cuisine and her warm and hospitable peopleand you get a great package.

For further information, log on to www.hospitals-malaysia.org

http://www.hospitals-malaysia.org/






19

6.1 Recommendations In Our Opinions

Malaysia is a one country that provides the good service for the medical or healthcare tourism. Although this country develop in this sector but Malaysia must do somethingbetter or make value added for service that provide. Since Malaysia still no laws to prohibitthe selling or buying of an organ, although it was frowned upon. Here Malaysia shouldlegislate a law to against people purchase or selling organs. This is because to make suresomeone not take benefit or advantage from freedom that a given in purchase organ. Sowith the law if something happen, the action will be taken.

Besides that, government and private hospital would not go ahead with organtransplants if they knew that a living donor was not related to the patient. This is to makesure the donor organ before this not have any problem with their health and not give theother problem after this for the patient that accept the organ.

In the several cases the organ transplant is not limited from race or religion. This isbecause if the patients found suitable organ, they should be glad, because it is hard to get amatch organ and hard to found someone that very kind to donor their organ. If thegovernment and private hospital still keep the organ, this can make someone that reallyneed the organ and have change to life can not to save. This can make the patient familyfeel disappointed and lost hope to get service anymore at the hospital.

In medical technology should be enhanced to ensure that all types of services for

patients can be conducted in Malaysia. We can use new technology from overseas to

enhance our technology in line with the country beyond. It is necessary to increase the

number of tourists to Malaysia. Due to the increasing number of tourists to earn extra income

while dispelling the Malaysian economy.

In addition, doctor and nursing services should be enhanced to achieve the most

good. Doctor and nurse service is very important to attract health medical tourism came to

Malaysia. They should be given higher education and training a lot to improve the quality of

service. If the patient is satisfied with the services provided they would believe our country

with quality service. This could increase the country's name as a country that is appropriate

for health medical tourism. When their staff and nurse has an experiences in medical this

situations can prevent the staff give a wrong medicines for patient. If this situation occurs in

hospitals this can impact the names of hospitals and the foreign people will not go to

hospitals to get a treatment.

Beside that the medical or healthcare tourism in Malaysia must do the aggressive

promotion to attract more costumers not like usually to come and get service in Malaysia. In

the promotion we must give more attention to price, technology, environment and something

that other country did not have. For example although the price that Malaysia give is a low

but the service that promise is high quality and the patients can get the other package that

interesting also.

In my opinion, the government should think the safety of people who take the

treatment or medical checkup in the hospitals. The safety of patient is very important



20

because people are assets for our country. The government must determine the rules in

medical to prevent complications when give a treatment to patients. The good service was

provided for patient and the patients will satisfied with the services. When a complication

occurs the patients will get their insurance with the agreements before do the treatment

especially for foreign people who come to Malaysia for get treatment. All medical services

performance must be determined in accordance procedure. It’s necessary to avoid a mishapoccur, that will give an effect for healthcare medical tourism in Malaysia.

Conclusion

Medical Tourism is a very old concept dating back to thousands of years, is wherepeople who live in one country travel to another country to receive medical, dental andsurgical care at a significant savings while at the same time receiving equal to or greater care than they would have in their own country. Medical travel is becoming more popular, asmore people realize its benefits. The main benefits of medical tourism or health tourism

include getting the opportunity to travel to fantastic and alluring destination, top quality healthservices to local and international patients and reaping potentially big monetary saving.Several factors that influence in medical tourism is related with technology, healthcare,medical service and cost. Medical tourism has been helping individuals, corporations, andinsurers save time also, on the cost of healthcare through its vast network of high caliber andprofessional overseas surgeons and hospitals. Today a large number of individuals in thewestern countries are taking advantage of this popular alternative for their health careneeds.

However, there are challenges, which require immediate attention of industrystakeholders. Malaysia has become one of the top health tourism destinations in the worldpresenting most attractive opportunities for medical tourists in cost effective treatments. The

total number of medical tourist arrivals in the country reached to the mark of 425,500 in2009, backed by factors, such as availability of good healthcare infrastructure, governmentsupport through promotional programs, and well-skilled medical professionals. According to“Malaysia Medical Tourism Outlook 2012” report, the total medical tourist arrivals in thecountry will reach 689,000 by 2012 end, which represents a CAGR growth of around 17%since 2009, says our latest report.

References

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn6207/is_20040101/ai_n24907111/

http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/19/nation/7041441&sec=nation

http://www.myhealthcare.gov.my/en/index.asp

http://www.health-tourism.com/medical-tourism/statistics/

http://www.intmedtourism.com/en/legal-issues-in-medical-tourism/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/medical_tourism#Description
















Documents

lu bace dox