IHH Knowledge Transfer Set To Enhance Malaysia's Position As Medical Tourism Hub

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's prominence as a medical tourism hub will be given a boost through the transfer of knowledge and expertise within IHH Healthcare Bhd, the Malaysian-owned world's second largest private hospital operator. Expressing this optimism on Sunday, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Chief Economist Anthony Dass said Malaysia had what it takes to mature into a major medical tourism hub - facilities, space and talent. "What needs to be done is to pool all these to create quality and cost effectiveness in the industry," he told Bernama. Dass said IHH, which also operates hospitals in India, Turkey and Singapore through joint-venture partners, could undertake knowledge transfer in a two-way system where the locals could go on foreign attachments while foreign specialists could come and work in Malaysia. One area that required focus was medical research and development (R&D), he said. "When you are talking about 2020, you are talking about high-income nation status and, eventually, we are talking about R&D. It is R&D that is going to ensure potential sustainability, develop productivity and create innovation. We bring in foreign expertise and transfer knowledge and move on from there. That's the cutting edge we can have because we have the space," Dass said. He said that though Malaysia's closest competitor in healthcare was Singapore, other countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were also replicating the health business model, thus making it imperative for Malaysia to improve the quality and skills of its medical professionals. Another positive side to IHH's emergence was that support service providers in the country such as Faber, Radicare and others would now have to improve their standards and quality. "When IHH brings in its top foreign talent and expertise, it will help standards in the country to move higher. As IHH moves higher, other private hospitals will also want to elevate their standards and in that process the support service providers will also have to improve their standards," Dass said. On this score, former Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican had said that prospects for Malaysia's medical tourism would be "very good" provided Malaysians must did their part in ensuring that they remained professional and ethical at all times. Dass said that between 2007 and 2011, Malaysia's cumulative growth in medical tourism was about 19 per cent. Income-wise, Malaysia's healthcare sector should aim for a revenue of RM50.5 billion by 2020 from the present RM13.2 billion, he said. IHH, Asia's biggest healthcare services provider, recently recorded a strong performance in the second quarter ended June 30 with a net profit of RM403.5 million. Revenue climbed by 137 per cent to RM3.97 billion from last year following greater demand for quality healthcare services in Asia, said its managing director Dr Lim Cheok Peng. Sourced: bernama