CEO’s Message

Assalamualaikum and warm greetings from Malaysia Healthcare. We have had quite an eventful third quarter – with all the events and initiatives lined up, the past three months were quite a plateful but flew past us just as quickly ! Our nation’s 61st Independence Day and 55th birthday (I am talking about Malaysia Day, of course) also took place recently and I hope you all experienced a warming patriotic month as I have.

As we progress towards achieving the fiscal year’s targets, I can surely say that the days ahead will only get more exciting! On MHTC’s part, we have much in store to share with you on how we are pushing Malaysia Healthcare to new heights.

For one, we have just concluded our third instalment of MHTC’s annual medical travel market intelligence conference – insigHT2018. With the theme ‘Building Trust Towards Excellence’, we invited key industry players, thought leaders and leading medical travel experts to collaborate, innovate and share knowledge to foster the development of the industry. We were very fortunate to have had the Deputy Minister of Health, YB Dr. Lee Boon Chye deliver the opening remarks followed by the Deputy Minister of Finance, YB Dato’ Ir. Haji Amiruddin bin Hamzah to deliver the keynote address and launch insigHT2018. This is testament of the government’s support to see to the growth and development of Malaysia’s healthcare travel industry.

Also during insigHT2018, an MoU Signing between Indonesia AirAsia and MHTC took place for a four-month trial using Air Asia Indonesia’s QZ direct flight from Indonesian cities to Penang to promote healthcare travel in Malaysia. This initiative involves several of Penang’s top private healthcare providers who have offered some great accompanying offers with the promotion. It is encouraging to see how industry players and healthcare providers are collaborating and contributing to making the healthcare travel journey experience a seamless one!

Malaysia Healthcare also launched our inaugural Medical Travel Media Awards (MTMA) 2018! The media has played a significant role in building awareness on Malaysia’s healthcare travel industry over the years. Through MTMA 2018, we want to appreciate, encourage and celebrate this! I would like to take this opportunity to personally invite participants from the local and international media landscape to submit their entries. MTMA is part of our efforts to garner interest and awareness in our upcoming Malaysia Year of Healthcare Travel 2020’s (MYHT 2020) campaign, Share My Experience, which will be open to the general public come 2019.

We have also been aggressively pursuing our plans to position Malaysia as the Fertility and Cardiology Hub of Asia. In this quarter alone, a Familiarisation Trip was organised to visit several of our fertility centres: TMC Fertility Centre, Alpha Fertility Centre, Sunfert International Fertility Clinic, Fertility Associates, the Fertility Centre of Sunway Medical Centre, and KL Fertility Centre. Delegates from China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam and Myanmar came over to witness first-hand the quality of the fertility treatment services provided here.

Cardio Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur (CVSKL) also recently had their launch where our Prime Minister, Yang Amat Berhormat Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, spoke of how Malaysia is capable to provide quality heart care to both the citizens of Malaysia and visitors of our country alike. Yang Amat Berhormat Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad also highlighted that this will help to boost Malaysia as a hub for medical tourism, whilst also boosting the economy. With this support in hand, we should only be spurred on to realise our targets.

All of these initiatives are a testament to Malaysia’s efforts in making Malaysia the leading global destination for healthcare. I would like to commend Malaysia Healthcare’s efforts in positioning the country as the Fertility and Cardiology hub of Asia. With only a few months left in 2018, let us continue to push for excellence and reach even greater heights by providing all of our healthcare travellers with the best possible treatment!

#MHMenangSamaSama

Thank you.

Sherene Azli
CEO of Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council