KPJ Healthcare Eyes RM90 Mln Health Tourism Revenue In 2015

By Nurul Hanis Izmir KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Bernama) -- KPJ Healthcare Bhd aims to increase its revenue from health tourism to RM90 million this year from RM78 million in 2014, says Vice President (1) Corporate & Financial Services Mohd Sahir Rahmat. In 2013, the private healthcare provider posted revenue of US$21.64 million (RM67.09 million) for the sector. To meet the target, he said, KPJ will continue to innovate and bring in new technology while expanding its services to meet patients’ needs. “Many of our health tourism patients are from Southeast Asia (Indonesia), the Middle East (Libya) and East Africa (Somalia) among others, and they are here seeking our expertise, be it in oncology, orthopaedics, neurology or heart treatment. “Supporting our resources within Malaysia, we have engaged foreign agents in several key markets overseas who help patients select a KPJ hospital that best suits their treatment needs. “These agents then work closely with our Health Tourism team to arrange every aspect of our foreign visitors’ stay and treatment in our hospitals,” he told Bernama on the sidelines of KPJ's third international community day Saturday. In his speech, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Undersecretary Alan Abdul Rahim said Malaysia is one of the most popular medical tourism destinations in the world, attracting over 770,000 medical tourists in 2013 and 790,000 health travellers in 2014 (contributing estimated earnings of some RM730 million). “The growth rate of income in the medical tourism industry has exceeded the 10th Malaysia Plan target by 10 per cent evey year, and for the 11th Malaysia Plan period, the income is expected to grow 15 per cent annually, generating revenue of about RM2 billion by 2020,” he said. He attributed the rise in number of medical travellers to the joint efforts by the Malaysian government and private hospitals and other agencies, making the Healthcare National Key Econmic Area (NKEA) an essential part of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). Under the Reinvigorating Healthcare Travel entry point project, six KPJ hospitals have been established as one-stop centres for all matters related to healthcare travel. The six hospitals, with an investment of more than RM800 million, contribute more than five per cent to KPJ's total revenue. (US$1=RM3.60) -- BERNAMA