PM: Govt strives to improve medical tourism

PUTRAJAYA: The government strives to improve its medical tourism among foreign patients, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak (pix).
Citing a report from an American publication that Malaysia's heathcare system had received top score out of 25 countries surveyed including Spain, France and Ireland; he said such excellence is reflected in the number of foreigners coming to Malaysia for medical procedures.
"Malaysia's share of the medical tourism market has nearly doubled in the last four years - in 2014 it reached 770,000 patients, bringing in revenue of around RM700 million.
"This year, those figures are expected to rise still further to 930,000 patients, and revenue of RM1 billion," he said during the launch of the Malaysian Medical Association Fifty-Five Years 1959-2014 book in his office here today.
He said the medical expertise in Malaysia is comparable, and sometimes better, than in most Western countries.
However, he said the country is still behind neighbouring countries in the industry.
"We still have a long way to go, and I intend to make this a priority area to enhance our competitiveness in the field of medical tourism."
Najib also said the government is very serious in tackling the challenges of rising expectations and cost in health care.
"That is why in Budget 2015, we set out to priorities the well-being of the rakyat, and allocated RM23.3 billion for health care and facilities," he said, adding the allocation will be used to build two new
hospitals in Dungun, Terengganu, and Seri Iskandar, Perak, as well as 20 health clinics and four dental clinics.
He said the government also increased the tax relief available on expenses inccured for serious disease such as cancer, kidney failure and heart attack, as well as establish an additional 30 1Malaysia clinics - bringing a total to 290 clinics nationwide.
Also present were Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, MMA president Dr Ashok Zachariah Philip and Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.