Malaysia, India tops for medical tourism: report
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Malaysia and India feature among the world’s top five medical tourism destinations, according to US-based Nuwire Investors, an online investment news source.
Malaysia came in third after Panama and Brazil and followed by Costa Rica and India.
According to Nuwire Investors, Malaysia’s medical tourism industry has seen staggering growth in recent years. From 2001 to 2006, the number of foreigners seeking healthcare services in Malaysia almost tripled from 75,210 patients to 296,687 patients. The large volume of patients in 2006 brought approximately RM204 million (US$59 million) in revenue. This trend is likely to grow at a rate of 30% a year until 2010, as projected by the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia.
Nuwire Investors added that foreign medical tourists and investors were attracted by Malaysia’s favourable exchange rate, political and economic stability and high rate of literacy.
Nuwire Investors said several hospitals in India use “highly trained physicians and cutting-edge medical technology” but its fifth ranking was due to the amount of restrictions placed on foreign investors and the distance Americans must travel to get there.
It said the medical tourism sector was experiencing rapid growth, with some 500,000 foreign patients travelling to India for medical care in 2005, compared to an estimated 150,000 patients in 2002.
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