Malaysian government officials yesterday were promoting their country’s
healthcare sector in efforts to persuade Cambodians to seek medical services
there as part of a broader commitment to the growth of bilateral trade between
both countries.
Malaysian Ambassador to Cambodia
Datuk Pengiran Haji Mohd Tahir Nasruddin said during the third Showcase
Malaysia 2012 Exhibition in Phnom Penh that 10 Malaysian hospitals participated
in the fair to consult with attendees about their services.
“At this time Malaysian
healthcare provides the high quality of medical treatment and it has worldwide
recognition,” he said.
Mony Roeun Sok, a representative
of Mahkota Medical Center’s office in Cambodia, said that among the 10
participating Malaysian hospitals, only Mahkota had representative offices in
Cambodia and have so since 2010.
He said the trend of getting
medical checkups in Malaysia has grown this year due to more advertising and
via word-of-mouth of previous patients. In the past, few people knew about the
quality of healthcare services in Malaysia, he added.
When his company started in 2010,
there were about five customers per month, but this had gradually increased. So
far this year, the hospital averages about 50 people per month, he said.
Some of them went to Malaysia to
get checkups with a service called “Medical Tourism”, while between 30 and 40
per cent went to have more involved procedures.
For a medical check-up, they
spent between $200 to $500, depending on the checks, said Roeun Sok, who added
that cost of Malaysian medical services is 30 per cent cheaper than in
Singapore and about 10 per cent less than in Thailand.
He said the cost of heart surgery
is $13,000 to $15,000 in Malaysia, but would cost $22,000 to $25,000 dollars in
Singapore.
Malaysia isn’t the only country
hoping to lure Cambodians looking for quality, low-cost medical care. In early
June, the South Korean Tourism Organisation held the “Korean Medical Tourism
Event”, aiming to attract more Cambodians to use the country’s services, beyond
the 24,000 Cambodians who visited South Korea in 2011.
Charm Lee, president of the
Korean Tourism Organisation, said they came to seek out possible patients and
explore the market potential, adding: “We came to Cambodia because we think
that market is good and that Cambodian tourists are interested in Korea.”
Rann Reuy
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