MEDICAL TOURISM CONTINUES
TO GROW
Apart from eco-tourism, medical
tourism is also on the rise as
people strive to seek better medical
treatment and healthcare services in
big cities. Normah Medical Specialist
Centre (NMSC) managing director
and chief executive officer Dato Dr.
Au Yong Kien Hoe foresees that
medical tourism will grow as time
passes on.
This is because people, especially
those living in suburban, rural areas
and from neighbouring Indonesia,
travel to big cities such as Kuching
to seek better medical treatment
and healthcare services due to
advancement in medical technology
and more medical specialists here.
Yong believes that the private
healthcare industry in Sarawak
will continue to receive higher
demand in the future. He notes that
there would be more than 20,000
Indonesians coming to Sarawak to
seek medical treatment annually.
“The private healthcare services
will continue to grow as population
expands and it will be good for
a private foreign hospital to
operate here. This is because it is
important that we will be exposed to
international competition and make
sure that we can compete with the
same standard with other private
healthcare providers,” he said.
He explains: “It will benefit the local
people so they have more choices
of hospitals to seek. Sometimes
they are not aware of the quality
and standard of our local hospitals.
Plus, they lack confidence in local
hospitals and it is our duty to
continue to develop in terms of
quality and standard.”
standard and best practices.
Standard of care in NMSC is as good
as or even higher than hospital in
overseas.”
Yong noted that NMSC has been
accredited by the Malaysian Society
for Quality in Health (MSQH) –
an independent organisation
responsible for the development
and application of Malaysian
Heatlhcare Accreditation Standards,
in the last nine years and the Joint
Commission International (JCI) which
is an American accreditation in the
last three years.
The Malaysia Healthcare Travel
has granted the outstanding
achievement award to NMSC
as a result of higher number of
healthcare travellers and highest
revenue for healthcare travellers for
East Malaysia in 2012. The Ministry
of Health’s outstanding achievement
award is to recognise the
contributions of healthcare provider
in Malasysia from the perspective of
medical tourism.
NMSC pointed out that it is the first
time ever the awards are being
given to all the healthcare providers
in Malaysia.
He said, “Only a few hospitals in
Malaysia have achieved the JCI
accreditation. NMSC will continue
to move forward in terms of
Continuous Quality Improvement
(CQI) with regards to patient safety
www.PropertyHunter.com.my
35