Year-long campaign to woo Bangladeshi patients to KL

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) is planning to promote its healthcare in Bangladesh through a year-long campaign to position the Southeast Asian country as a preferred choice for medical tourists.
"We will be running an extensive campaign in 2016 in Bangladesh to attract well-off Bangladeshis, specially corporate clients to let them know our 'affordable and  world class' healthcare industry," said MHTC Chief Marketing Officer(CMO) Megat Ardian Wira.
He was visiting Bangladesh to sign a tri-party Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote healthcare in the country.
The parties in the MoU are Grameenphone Ltd (GP), GD Assist Ltd. and Biman Bangladesh Airline (Biman) unveiling categories of attractive healthcare travel packages in Malaysia. GD Assist Ltd. is the official representative office of MHTC in Bangladesh.
The CMO of MHTC said they achieved 61 per cent growth from 2011 to 2014, which is expected to grow further in 2015 and 2016.
The country received some 13,000 medical tourists from Bangladesh in 2013 and the number increased to 18,000 in 2014. The number may rise to 30,000 in the next two years.
The tri-party MoU deals the option for GP Star customers, GP International roamers and GP employees to enjoy healthcare packages at two of Malaysia's top hospitals; Prince Court Medical Centre and Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur.
Mr Wira said he had a meeting with Biman officials to find affordable ways for the Bangladeshi patients seeking medicare services to Malaysia.
"Our discussion with Biman is still at the early stage, we hope it will bring a good result," he told The Financial Express.
Malaysia Healthcare has moved from strength to strength in the last few years. The country was named "Medical Travel Destination of the Year" at the Medical Travel Awards 2015 by the International Medical Travel Journal, and "Best Country in the World for Healthcare" by International Living's Global Retirement Index 2015 and again in 2016.
Malaysia was also honoured as the "2015 Public Private Partnership Medical Travel Destination of the Year" at the 8th Annual World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress in Orlando, Florida (USA) last year.
Megat Ardian said they believe that Malaysia has the right qualities for achieving greater heights in international healthcare travel: excellent quality in healthcare services, accessibility and affordability.
He said Malaysian healthcare is regulated by the health ministry and a number of bodies under the ministry. No hospital can charge additional money or make discrepancy between foreign and local patients.
 "It is easy for travellers to communicate with health professionals in Malaysia where English is widely spoken," he added.
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