KUALA LUMPUR: The RM30 million allocation for the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) will help maintain momentum for the medical tourism industry.
MHTC chief executive officer Sherene Azli said since 2011, the industry has shown tremendous potential and recorded a double-digit annual growth.
“In 2016, the healthcare travel industry grew about 23 per cent from 2015, compared to the average growth rate of 15 per cent from 2011 to 2015,” he said.
She said this was in line with the national economic blueprint where healthcare travel was identified as one of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA).
“This is set to drive the country towards a high-income nation in 2020,” she said.
She said Malaysia received more than 921,500 health travellers seeking treatment here.
“It is estimated that last year alone, the contribution of the healthcare travel industry was valued at RM4 to 5 billion.
Sherene said the sector had identified Indonesia, Vietnam, China and recently India, as core markets based on the volume of healthcare travellers as well as growth potential for these respective markets.
Earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said a total of RM30 million has been allocated to boost end-to-end service in medical health tourism as well as promote In Vitro Fertilization technology to Asia. This will be managed by Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council.
Source: Travelwirenews