One-stop-portal on healthcare travel to be launched soon

 

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) chief executive officer Mohd Daud Mohd Arif mingles with members of the media during a gathering in Kuala Lumpur. - NSTP/HAZREEN MOHAMAD

KUALA LUMPUR: A one-stop-portal on healthcare travel will soon be launched as part of Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council's (MHTC) initiatives to catalyse further growth of the country's healthcare travel industry.

"The portal will give international healthcare travellers (HT) easy access to anything related to healthcare travelling," said MHTC chief executive officer Mohd Daud Mohd Arif.

He said the portal would save the international HTs the hassle of searching for the right information on the Internet endlessly.

"The portal is one of the key initiatives that we will implement to cause further growth of the country's healthcare travel industry while embarking on the rebuilding phase of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Blueprint 2021-2025 this year.

He said the main initiative was to focus on the healthcare travel ecosystem that would stress on patients' experience in Malaysia healthcare travel.

"Another initiative is the Health Facilitator Training Programme that will equip international tour and travel agents with the essential knowledge and skills in becoming Malaysia Healthcare agents abroad," said Mohd Daud during a media luncheon hosted by MHTC here today.

He said MHTC would also build Malaysia's first flagship medical tourism hospital and establish more strategic partnerships as well as driving advocacy for the Malaysia healthcare brand.

He said that MHTC has limited funds in terms of targeting the market but it has a clear investment that would bring income back into the country.

"For now we are focusing on our traditional markets like Indonesia, Bangladesh, Indo-China countries, and aim to double the healthcare travel industry revenue by 2025."

He said compared to countries like Singapore, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom or other European countries, Malaysia is much more affordable in healthcare and with the same or if not better quality services.

"And of course communication wise, we have the advantage of being able to communicate in different languages," he said.

For the recovery phase of the pandemic in 2022, Mohd Daud said, industry players should work closely to implement proactive measures in providing continuity of care to patients while ensuring the safety of locals and international patients.

"We want to make Malaysia the best place to travel for quality healthcare services and experience," said Mohd Daud.

-nst online.