Materia Medica Malaysiana

M’sia has potential for medical tourism

Kota Kinabalu: Malaysia has the potential to become a major “medical tourism” destination as the cost for surgical treatment and recuperation in this country is lower than in the advanced Western countries.

Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, said state-of-the-art medical and surgical treatment centres in major cities including here could also enable local surgeons and other medical specialists gain practical skills of international standard.

He said the State and country would also derive economic benefits from foreign patients coming here to seek treatment.

“The time has come to reverse the trend of Malaysians going abroad for expensive surgical treatment Ö we should now get others to come to our country for such treatment,” said Musa.

I hope the state medical authorities and private sector practitioners, especially surgeons, will take my suggestions in a positive light and build on these ideas, he added.

He said this in a speech presented by his Deputy Datuk Tham Nyip Shen, who is also Resource and Information Technology Development Minister, at the opening of the Asian Surgical Association’s 14th Biennial Congress here on Thursday.

The three-day congress is being held in conjunction with the Annual Scientific Meeting of the College of Surgeons, Malaysia.

“On the part of the State government, we will do all we can to encourage the advancement of our public health system and specialist medical services, including surgical treatments,” said Musa.

He said there was much to be gained from working together towards that objective “as the local people in need of surgical treatment can get it done at a reasonable cost and convenience, and the local economy will also benefit.”

“Under such a scenario, I see this Biennial Congress of the Asian Surgical Association here as a landmark occasion Ö this is an excellent opportunity for our own fraternity of surgeons to optimise and set themselves in new directions,” he said.

Musa said the State government was fully supportive of efforts by the Federal government to raise the standard of medical services in Sabah.

“We are very much aware of the fact that the ratio of doctors to the general population in Sabah needs to be improved. We are nowhere near the national average of one doctor to every 4,000 people, and efforts are being made to address the situation,” he said.

In terms of medical facilities, he said Sabah had made tremendous progress under the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration.

“Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau have well-equipped and well-staffed general hospitals while there are district hospitals to serve the more remote areas of the State, including rural and mobile clinics.

“With continuing improvements in the State’s communication network, particularly roads and telecommunications, almost everyone in Sabah has some access to medical treatment when needed. The focus now is on making this access easier, faster and cheaper,” said Musa.

He said the government realised that adequate trained manpower is vital for maintaining an efficient public health and medical service.

“Therefore, the State and Federal governments are working closely with one another to establish training facilities for medical personnel at all levels,” he said.

Beginning with the training of nurses locally more than three decades ago, he said Sabah had moved to the stage where the State will soon be producing locally trained medical doctors at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), which only recently set up its own Faculty of Medicine.

He added that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) here has also established a Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors can pursue medical studies at Master’s level, including advanced training in surgical disciplines.

“Work has also started on the construction of an Allied Health School at Bukit Padang for the training of paramedical staff, along with a Public Health Laboratory that will vastly improve the quality of public health services in the State, particularly in the detection, diagnosis and control of epidemics and contagious diseases.

“All these developments augur well for the progress of Sabah’s health and medical sector.

“The basis has been established for the further progress of this sector. It remains for the State to move on to a new level of healthcare and medical services Ö this includes areas of treatment beyond those provided by general physicians. Surgery is one such area,” said Musa.

I am aware of the spectacular advances in surgical techniques and procedures in other parts of the world, he said, adding that Malaysia is not far behind as Kuala Lumpur is already a favourite destination for patients from many countries.

This includes those coming from developed Western countries and the Middle East, he said, pointing out that the National Heart Institute (IJN) is internationally renowned for its high standards and that Malaysian surgeons have proven to be on par with the best in the world in many instances.

“It remains for us now to turn this success into something bigger to benefit our people and the country,” said Musa.

Meanwhile, four renowned surgeons namely Datuk Dr Hussein Awang, Prof Sir Ara Darzi, Prof David John David and Prof Takada Tadahiro, were named Honorary Fellows of the Asian Surgical Association during the event.