{"id":31870,"date":"2017-11-03T13:32:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T05:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?p=31870"},"modified":"2017-11-03T13:32:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T05:32:38","slug":"singapore-vs-malaysia-reigns-supreme-medical-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/singapore-vs-malaysia-reigns-supreme-medical-tourism","title":{"rendered":"Singapore Vs Malaysia: Who Reigns Supreme In Medical Tourism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Health Ministry recently expressed hope that the government would increase its allocation by 10% to 15% for the upcoming Budget 2018.<\/p>\n

Its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this was necessary given the steady rise of outpatients and in-house patients in government hospitals and clinics since 2015.<\/p>\n

According to the ministry, 20.26 million outpatients and 2.4 million admissions in government hospitals in 2015. The figure has since risen steadily last year and it expects it to increase this year as well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fact that healthcare across the globe is rising and paying exorbitant fees back home has urged people to look elsewhere for similar or even better quality of medical treatment.<\/p>\n

Enter, medical tourism. Patients Without Borders, a medical travel site, using US costs across a variety of specialties and procedures as a benchmark, ranked the average range of savings for the most-travelled destinations are as follow:<\/p>\n

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Now an article in The Straits Times<\/em> said that while Singapore might be one of the region\u2019s top dogs when it comes to medical tourism, its neighbours are swiftly closing the gap with Malaysia taking the lead when it comes to a cheaper alternative.<\/p>\n

But the question is how cheap? Before we dive into a comparison of which side of the Johor Strait is better, keep in mind that medical tourism here deals with private hospitals and care providers.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s see how both countries are doing in terms of medical tourism.<\/p>\n

<\/span>A beeline for the peninsula<\/span><\/h2>\n

Investment news site Nuwire ranked Malaysia as one of the top five destinations for medical tourism in 2008. The country was also recognised by the International Medical Travel Journal as a top destination for medical tourism.<\/p>\n

According to the Malaysian Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), the country received 641,000 foreign patients in 2011, 728,800 in 2012, 881,000 in 2013 and 882,000 in 2014. The council derives its statistics from the reported numbers of all foreign patients treated by endorsed medical facilities.<\/p>\n

These figures encompass all registered patients with a foreign passport, which by default also encompass expatriates, migrants, business travellers and holidaymakers for whom healthcare may not be the main motive for their stay.<\/p>\n

Also as a result of a higher number of medical tourists, the council also noted endorsed medical facilities in the country have increased over the year.<\/p>\n

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