KUCHING: Private hospitals are happy that the government announced that Malaysians and international travellers who are fully vaccinated do not need to undergo quarantine upon arrival in the country from April 1.
Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia President Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said medical tourism has ceased to almost a small number since the last two years particularly from the neighbouring countries.
He said patients from the region who frequently seek treatment in Malaysia have been requesting options to get back into Malaysia’s private hospitals to recommence treatment or seek new therapies particularly in Penang, Melaka and Klang Valley.
“Our treatment cost is one of the cheapest in the region, hence private hospitals have seen an increase of medical tourists in 2019 to about 1.22 million. We have doubled the numbers of medical tourists since 2011 as we are able to provide world class treatment at affordable prices when compared to other Asian countries,” he said in a statement today.
Dr Kuljit assured that all private hospitals will strictly adhere to all Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) set by the Ministry of Health in making sure that there is no increase in COVID-19 transmission solely due to medical tourist and unvaccinated medical tourist will be subjected to compulsory quarantine.
He said Medical tourism has enhanced the level of private medical care in Malaysia and in recent times there has been a collaborative understanding with the government to treat public patients at a negotiated cost.
“This has greatly benefitted the citizens who cannot afford private treatment when there is a shortage of capacity in public hospitals.
However, this program is on-going and its well-regulated and controlled by the Ministry of Health,” he said.
“We hope in managing the pandemic further into the endemic phase private hospitals could continuously participate with the government in various levels of managing patients from vaccination to treating full paying COVID-19 patients as it will ease the burden of the public service.”
“In addition to the government’s support, we hope the insurance industry will also step in further to assist patients with Co- vid 19,” he added.
Dr Kuljit said the approval of antivirals for COVID-19 should also be extended to private hospitals as there was a huge number of private patients who seek care for COVID-19 including for long COVID-19 care.
