KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021-2025 which was unveiled today aims to boost the revival of medical tourism as the country gears towards the Covid-19 endemicity phase.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin described the blueprint formulated by the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) as unique and future-facing as to further establish Malaysia as a leading travel destination and provide a clear guide to the country's healthcare value chain and industry.
The blueprint, he said, covered five different approaches and is anchored on three strategic pillars – healthcare travel ecosystem, Malaysia healthcare brand and market strategic initiatives.
Khairy said healthcare had evolved greatly since the start of the pandemic to focus on a more patient-centric approach and ensuring development in the two key areas of care and patient experience.
To ensure Malaysia made headway in unison, he said the blueprint had been crafted with the aspiration of providing a healthcare experience which exemplifies the best of medical and service excellence throughout the end-to-end patient journey.
"As we transition into endemicity, our key priorities include the maintenance of high-quality care and safety above all else. We need to up the ante by embracing digitalisation of the entire patient journey experience.
"With this blueprint, Malaysia has begun forging a new frontier to redefine the patient experience through a unified and collaborative approach to digitalisation. This will allow healthcare providers to improve upon service delivery and reinforce our patients' peace of mind.
"This is especially in Malaysia's niche offerings such as the Fertility and Cardiology Hubs of Asia and the Cancer Care Centre of Excellence.
"With this blueprint, we aspire to provide the best Malaysian Healthcare Travel Experience by 2025. I believe this is within our grasp," he said during the virtual launch today.
Also present were Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, ministry secretary-general Datuk Mohd Shafiq Abdullah and MHTC chief executive officer Mohd Daud Mohd Arif.
Among the key strategies of the blueprint, which spans over the recovery (2021-2022) and rebuild phase (2023-2025), are improving the quality of medical care, to be a world leading destination that provides affordable medical offerings to healthcare travellers, to elevate offerings in hospitality alongside its position as a safe and trusted destination for medical and leisure offerings.
Khairy added that Malaysia was en route to establishing destination landmarks as testaments to the country's strength in healthcare delivery such as the upcoming flagship medical tourism hospitals.
The development of the International Retirement Living programme in partnership with the government, said Khairy, was yet another landmark that would showcase Malaysia positively as a destination recognised for healthcare.
"Malaysia is preparing its healthcare sector to take on a more robust shape from the perspective of treatment services, medical expertise, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, showcasing the country's testament as a trusted and safe country particularly in attracting foreign investments.
"For every plan and aspiration articulated today, we must bear in mind that the end goal is to build a sustainable future for the healthcare system. Like how a collective effort is being undertaken to transition Malaysia into endemicity, an all-of-industry effort is equally needed to execute this blueprint with excellence.
"l urge for better cross-border healthcare collaboration and encourage nations to cooperate more efficiently for more sustainable healthcare delivery globally," said Khairy.
Meanwhile, Daud said the blueprint charted a new course for a continuous and sustainable industry growth as Malaysia healthcare had been identified as a key economic driver under the export services sector.
"We will continue to strengthen our unique public-private partnership which has been an undeniable success factor behind our industry growth thus far.
"This was most evident during the lockdown when we collaboratively created a medical travel bubble to provide continuity of care for our healthcare travellers especially those in dire need of treatment."
-nst online.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.