Medical Tourism in Malaysia

This assignment examines the reasons behind Malaysia's emergence as a global leader in medical tourism. It highlights the country's attractive features such as its tropical climate, low cost of living, advanced medical technology, and government-supported healthcare system. The text delves into both environmental and political factors contributing to Malaysia's success in attracting international patients seeking affordable and quality medical care.

MEDICAL TOURISM IN MALAYSIA
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)
1

Introduction
Malaysia is one of the world leading countries in medical provision as the state receives
over 800,000 foreign patients on an annual basis; the medical tourism revenue in Malaysia is
further expected to achieve the government target of RM 1.3B by closure of 2017 financial year
(Center for Health Tourism Strategy, 2017)
Environmental Reasons for its Existence
The primary reason why Malaysia is trusted international for medical healthcare is due to
its tropical climatic weather condition, low cost of living and presence of standard hospitals. The
country has beautiful and inexpensive hospitals, low crime rates, and friendly people. Due to the
low cost of living, it’s no doubt that foreigner who visits the country find it more comfortable to
stay in Malaysia as they undergo medical procedures (Kohno and Musa 2016). For instance, a
foreigner can comfortably live in Malaysia for A budget of $ 1,700 or even less within a month.
Political Reasons for its Existence
The Malaysian Government together with the private sectors in the country has been in
the forefront in promoting affordable healthcare within the state. The health and private sectors
in Malaysia have ensured quality provision of healthcare by investing in advanced technological
types of equipment for surgery on chronic illness such as Cancers (Woodman 2009). Secondly,
the government has also subsidized treatments costs both to its people and to the people who
visit its medical shores thus making the country more attractive to pharmaceutical tourists who
cannot afford expensive healthcare in their countries. Thirdly, the government has placed strict
policies and measures to safeguard the patient well-being by ensuring that patients receive
treatment only from professionally approved doctors and not just ‘any doctor' who feels they are
2

fit to perform a medical procedure ( Falk and Prinsen 2016 ). The doctors are held accountable
for their actions as the Malaysians government value patient’s health and safety
3

Work Cited
Center for Health Tourism Strategy. (2017). Home - Center for Health Tourism Strategy.
[online] Available at http://medicaltourismstrategy.com/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2017]
Falk, L.K., and Prinsen, T.J., 2016. Decisions, Decisions: Factors that Influence a Patient's
Medical Tourism Choices. Quarterly Review of Business Disciplines, 3(3), p.195.
Kohno and Musa, G., et al., 2016. Issues in healthcare services in Malaysia as experienced by
Japanese retirees. BMC health services research, 16(1), p.167.
Woodman, J., 2009. Patients beyond borders: Everybody's guide to affordable, world-class
medical travel. Healthy Travel Media
4