Private healthcare told to improve services

Star: LOCAL private hospitals must be prepared to face stiff competition from foreign investors following the liberalisation of private-healthcare services next year, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said private healthcare providers must improve their services and facilities in order to be on par with their foreign counterparts, if not better, by the time the country’s doors are opened.
“Clearly, our private hospitals have to improve their quality of service in order to remain competitive, but I am confident it can be done,” he said after performing the ground-breaking ceremony of Anson Bay Medical Centre in Teluk Intan recently.
Liow said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had recently announced the liberalisation of 17 sub-sectors in the service industry under Budget 2012.
The move, to be carried in phases, would include the private healthcare service industry, Liow added.
“The initiative will allow up to 100% foreign equity participation in selected sub-sectors and as a result, the healthcare industry will become borderless and we will need to start competing globally,” he said.
Liow added that the industry was worth an estimated RM26.76bil (US$8.4bil) or 4.75% of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Pointing out that the global health tourism industry was expected to reach RM240bil in 2020 with Southeast Asian countries contributing about RM9.6bil of the total amount, Liow said Malaysia’s health tourism was relatively small in comparison.
“According to figures in 2010, we only received about 400,000 medical tourists, which is equivalent to RM380mil in earnings.
“Competitors such as Singapore and Thailand have shown stronger growth in this area and have established themselves as leaders in high value healthcare experiences,” he said.
Liow added that the Government had initiated various strategies to transform its healthcare tourism industry by marketing itself beyond Indonesia, which made up about 80% of Malaysia’s revenue in healthcare tourism.
“We are targeting China, Australia, the Middle East and the United Kingdom,” he said.