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Murray Hunter
THIS year has been dubbed the Malaysia Year of Medical Tourism 2026 (MYMT 2026), an expensive marketing campaign to promote Malaysia’s private medical tourism industry.
The government has long supported developing the medical tourism sector as an economic growth engine.
The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) under the Ministry of Health offers incentives and has been promoting public-private partnership through GLCs to reach a target of RM 12 billion in revenue by 2030.
Medical tourism in Southeast Asia is very competitive with major medical tourism destinations in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
These three countries dominate the region due to high-quality, often internationally JCI-accredited hospitals, offering significant 50-80% cost savings compared to Western countries, with strong government support, and excellent infrastructure.
Thailand leads the sector in ASEAN, attracting well over a million medical tourists annually and generating substantial revenue (around US$850 million in recent years).
It excels in cosmetic surgery, dental work, orthopaedics, cardiac care, and wellness tourism.
Iconic hospitals like Bumrungrad International and Bangkok Hospital draw patients from across the globe.
The Thai government has launched initiatives, including designating 2026 as a "Golden Year" for medical tourism, to strengthen its position further.
Thailand is particularly known for blending high-quality medical care with tourism and hospitality.
Singapore serves as the premium, high-end option in the region, specialising in complex procedures such as cancer treatment, organ transplants, and advanced cardiovascular care. Its world-class healthcare system and hospitals like Gleneagles and Raffles attract those willing to pay more for top-tier quality and technology.
Emerging players like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia are growing but remain smaller in scale.
The Southeast Asian medical tourism market continues to expand rapidly, driven by rising healthcare costs elsewhere and improved regional connectivity.
There are developing specialisations in specific procedures, hospital accreditation and affordability that differentiate destinations.
In Malaysia, the MHTC reported 1.6 million medical tourists in 2025, with revenue of RM3.3 billion.
It offers excellent value-for-money procedures in fertility treatments, cardiology, orthopaedics, and health screenings.
Malaysia appeals especially to patients from neighbouring countries like Indonesia, and other countries as far away as Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, with key hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Challenges ahead
The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021–2025 aims to deliver the “Best Malaysia Healthcare Travel Experience” through quality improvements, ecosystem strengthening, and revenue growth.
This included the Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital (FMTH) Programme, which identifies and accelerates top hospitals like Institut Jantung Negara, Island Hospital Penang, Mahkota Medical Centre, and Subang Jaya Medical Centre in medical excellence, service, and international branding.
First, a reality check is needed
MHTC claims that the current direct revenue from medical tourism in Malaysia is around RM 3.3 billion from around 1.6 million medical tourists.
This means that hospitals are only receiving about RM2,000 (US$500) per patient.
On this basis, ‘medical tourism’ is either not high value or is being misstated.
In fact, the bulk of foreign ‘medical tourism’ patients are foreign workers and expatriates in Malaysia rather than medical tourists.
The data from MHTC includes anyone with a foreign passport who receives treatment in its member hospitals.
This means that long-term foreign residents, normal tourists and 2.2 million foreign workers are included in the ‘medical tourism’ statistics from MTHC.
Around 65% of the ‘medical tourists’ are from Indonesia, for example and are most likely resident foreign workers from that country rather than tourists.
The Department of Immigration does issue special medical visas, but does not provide specific data on the number of people coming to Malaysia only for healthcare services.
In the absence of this data, it is very difficult to know Malaysia’s current level of medical tourists precisely.
Medical inflation
Over the last year, it has been claimed that medical tourism revenue has gone up from RM 2.7 billion to RM 3.3 billion per annum, with around the same number of patients.
This indicates that costs per patient have risen 22.2%.
Bank Negara estimates that medical inflation in Malaysia is around 15%, and a 6% Sales and Service Tax (SST) was imposed on medical services for foreign patients at larger private facilities in 2025 to broaden the tax base.
So the increase in revenue is mainly due to medical inflation and tax rather than higher demand.
This brings up three issues. First, there appears to be little growth in the medical tourism sector. Second, there appears to be medical inflation, which is adding cost to services.
Third, when revenue increases from medical inflation rather than an increase in clientele, there are very few wider multiplier effects in the economy, contrary to the claims by Suriaghandi Suppiah, the CEO of the MHTC, at the official launch of the Malaysia Year of Medical Tourism.
Sales agents issues
Like other forms of tourism, medical tourism relies on sales agents who sign up potential patients in source countries.
These sales agents should be working directly with the MHTC and member hospitals. However, some doctors have gone rogue and used their own agents outside the system to cut out the hospitals and be paid directly.
In one ongoing case, a dispute between an Australian agent and Malaysia doctor is dragging out in the court system, costing the agent huge legal fees and giving medical tourism in Malaysia a bad name in a main source country.
Regulation of the sales agency system requires a deep review.
Patients without borders have legal implications
Issues concerning medical malpractice and injuries from procedures that have gone wrong are enormous.
In one case, an expatriate mother recently lost a negligence case against a hospital and medical practitioner and ended up paying RM1 million in costs after 3-4 years in the Malaysian court system.
Medical malpractice claims are also very difficult to pursue through the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) tribunal system, especially for patients who live overseas.
In a recent case, the Federal Court ruled that people who complain against malpractice by doctors have no right of appeal if the MMC releases the doctor without penalties.
The Malaysian government must come up with some form of international patient insurance system which takes away the medical risks due to malpractice and procedural error during treatment.
Such a system would significantly enhance the reputation of Malaysia as a medical tourism destination.
The growth and development of medical tourism in Malaysia is hampered by marketing and risk issues.
Malaysian advertising and promotion are relatively weak in target patient markets. Thailand, for example, has leveraged its cultural perceptions, first-class medical infrastructure, and tourist-oriented locations.
Malaysia needs to revamp its marketing approach and couple it with a well-regulated and effective agency system in target markets. Finally, Malaysia must show potential patients that medical treatment in Malaysia is relatively risk-free.
That alone would add great value to what Malaysian medical tourism is offering the world. – April 27, 2026