Josef Woodman on “Why Malaysia?
When I began research on the first edition of Patients Beyond Borders, Malaysia soon surfaced as a one of the region’s leading medical tourism destinations, and an important global healthcare hub. Malaysia? I confess I was hard-pressed to find the country on a map, and knew next to nothing of its rich culture, rising economy, and well-established healthcare infrastructure.
What a difference a few years make. During the course of four visits to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, I’ve toured dozens of hospitals and clinics—and was the first Westerner to visit the dazzling new Petronas-owned, US-accredited Prince Court Medical Center prior to its opening in 2008. I’ve since learned that Malaysia boasts a first-class internal healthcare infrastructure, bolstered by the respected Malaysia Society for Quality in Healthcare (MSQH) and the influential Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM). Further, two of the region’s largest hospital networks—KPJ and Sime Darby—offer locals and medical tourists alike a wide array of high-quality, accredited medical procedures.
Like many of its Asian counterparts, Malaysia has undergone spectacular economic growth in the last two decades, and its healthcare system and services are now well-known to Asians, Australians, and Europeans seeking affordable options without compromising quality. In the six short years between 2001 and 2007, the number of medical travelers to Malaysia rose to 340,000 annually, and Malaysia’s healthcare officials want to see this number double by 2012.
Malaysia remains one of the few destinations that offer the “trifecta”— excellent healthcare, low costs, and English spoken throughout the country (a former British colony)—for English-speaking medical tourists. In all the hospitals I visited, the physicians, surgeons, and administrative personnel universally spoke fluent English (a huge plus for an English-speaking patient contemplating the communications subtleties involved in medical procedures abroad).
In my travels, I’ve also learned that Malaysia’s long history of natural healing has seen the country grow into a leading destination for complementary, integrative, and holistic medicine. Well ahead of its counterparts to the West, hospitals in Malaysia are beginning to incorporate wellness and preventive care into their core offerings, allowing patients to choose from a wide range of procedures and recovery strategies.
And if that’s not enough to entice a medical traveler to this tropical paradise, Malaysia also ranks as one of Asia’s leading spa destinations. Patients can choose to recover post-op in a contemporary designer spa in Kuala Lumpur, or head to the beaches of Penang or Langkawi prior to procedure. With each visit to KL, I try to make the two-hour ride to the historic town of Melaka, one of the original Straits Colonies and home to a number of restorative hideaways.
Malaysia’s government and private sectors have worked hard to bring the highest quality standards of healthcare to its people, as well as to those who visit for medical care. Recent government-backed initiatives to promote medical tourism will further assure patient safety and enhance the international patient experience in the coming years. As North Americans are forced by high medical costs and increased rationing of medical care to seek cross-border alternatives, I’m confident that news of Malaysia will find its way to our shores, offering greater choice in healthcare for all.
