Penang hospitals cash in

Star: PENANG: Private hospitals here are fast tapping into the growing multi-million ringgit health tourism that is bringing in hordes of foreigners, especially from Medan, to the island’s shores.
Some 10,000 foreign patients checked into hospitals in the state and spent an estimated RM100mil last year.
Penang received 70% of the RM150mil generated from health tourism nationwide in 2004, followed by Malacca, which received 20%, and other states, according to the Penang Health Group.
Penang Health Group, set up early last year to coordinate promotional efforts to woo foreign patients to the state, comprises seven private hospitals.
The flip side of the boom in business is that the agents bringing in foreign patients are said to be calling the shots.
These agents, said industry officials, were so powerful they could set the number of patients for a particular hospital.
It was no longer important whether a doctor was very good or a hospital had the best equipment, he said.
Although it is no secret that hospitals pay commissions to agents, most interviewed denied any links with the agents to get business.
Penang Health Group chairman Dr Chan Kok Ewe, who is also the chief executive officer of a hospital on the island, said health tourism was emerging as a big industry in the state but it was being promoted in a healthy manner.
“We do have agents arranging for foreigners to go to our hospitals but it has always been a healthy arrangement,” he said, adding that health tourism revenue in Penang went up by 20% last year.
Foreign patients, mostly from Medan, come here for various kinds of operations, including treatment for heart ailments and cancer.
Dr Chan said Singapore used to be popular with Indonesian patients but they started coming to Penang as the costs were cheaper and the quality of medical service was just as good.
Malaysian Association of Private Hospitals vice-president Datuk Teddric J. Morr, who is also president of a well known hospital here, said there have been no complaints against the agents so far.
“It will be a surprise to me if agents call the shots. As far as I know, we are not into buying patients.
“It has always been healthy competition as far as health tourism is concerned.”
Khor Thean Heng, the marketing director of a hospital here said it did not rely on agents for foreign patients.
The hospital handled about 15,000 patients last year, of whom about 30% were foreigners, he added.
An official of another hospital which handles about 15,000 outpatients yearly, said 15% were foreigners.
Promotion was done through medical talks and by word of mouth only, said the official.
State Tourism Development and Environment committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow said Penang Health Group, which operates independently, was started by the State Tourism Council and its members promoted the state as a whole and refrained from promoting a particular hospital.
Although there has been no complaint against the agents, the authorities are monitoring the situation, he added.
A Malaysia Airlines official said that health tourism in the state was set to grow further with more daily direct flights from Medan to Penang.