Flagship medical tourism hospital programme launched

Malaysia has taken a significant step forward in its goal of providing the Best Malaysia Healthcare Travel Experience by 2025 by launching the Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital Programme.

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) selected Institut Jantung Negara, Island Hospital, Mahkota Medical Centre, and Subang Jaya Medical Centre as the finalists after an extensive and rigorous qualifying process in 2022 that involved data analysis and on-site assessments.

The program spearheaded by MHTC aims to reinforce Malaysia’s position as a safe and trusted destination for top-notch healthcare services and elevate excellence in medical and service offerings.

The shortlisted hospitals will now advance into the next phase of the programme, the Acceleration Period, which will continuously assess their growth and development against best practices and benchmarks in medical and service excellence and international branding over three years.

The programme collaborates between MHTC and global medical accreditation bodies IQVIA and Joint Commission International (JCI). It aims to propel the private healthcare sector into a future-forward paradigm and elevate private healthcare services to deliver seamless end-to-end patient experiences anchored upon outcome-based medical excellence, service excellence best practices, and international branding.

Malaysia has a solid reputation as a destination for travel and healthcare, having won numerous awards, including the coveted “Destination of the Year” title by UK-based healthcare travel authority International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ) numerous times in recent years. The country’s solid reputation as a destination for travel and healthcare attracted 1.06 million European tourists and 1.22 million healthcare travellers in 2019 alone. MHTC is optimistic that the programme will fast-track the healthcare travel industry’s recovery and growth.

Dr Zaliha Mustafa, Minister of Health Malaysia, said, “I trust that the Flagship programme will promote innovation and excellence in medical services and bring us closer to achieving a more resilient healthcare system for the country and establish Malaysia Healthcare as a world-renowned and credible global healthcare brand.”

Mohd Daud Mohd Arif, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), added, “The outcome of this concerted effort between the public and private industry players will result in elevated private healthcare services to deliver seamless end-to-end patient experiences anchored upon outcome-based medical excellence, service excellence best practices, and international branding.”

Jonathan Roberts, IQVIA’s General Manager for Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, said, “The excellent medical care and services that local and international patients can receive from these hospitals, including niche treatments in areas like cardiology, oncology, fertility, orthopaedics, neurology and aesthetics, have undoubtedly led to these hospitals receiving this accreditation.”

Jean Courtney, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Joint Commission International (JCI), said, “It is my great hope that these flagship medical tourism hospitals will serve as a model for other private healthcare facilities and centres to continue bolstering their efforts to achieve a cohesiveness that employs both medical and service excellence through process, technological and talent enhancement while continuously improving end-to-end patient experience.”