NEW DELHI: Malaysia's leading healthcare companies have identified Bangladesh as a "big market" for their growing medical business, The Financial Express reported.

A total of 11,569 Bangladeshis came to Malaysia for medical tourism last year, more than double than in 2011, Malaysia's Tourism and Culture Ministry said.

"The number of medical tourists to Malaysia is gradually rising as the country offers medical services with qualified doctors and nurses," said Dolly Lim, Senior Manager (training and quality development) of Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council.

The cost of medical treatment in Malaysia is also significantly lower than in Singapore and Thailand.

For instance, it costs about US$18,500 for a heart bypass operation in Singapore, whereas it costs around US$12,000 in Malaysia, Lim said.

Besides the low-cost quality medical services, there remains a cultural and religious affinity between the general masses of Bangladesh and Malaysia, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur Dr Tom Vann (Vanniasingham) told the English daily in Dhaka during the Showcase Malaysia Fair held there recently.

The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council said Malaysia generated RM511 million revenue from health tourism in 2011, significantly surpassing the set target of RM431 million by 34.9 per cent.

There was 50 per cent increase in the number of patients from the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, China and Hong Kong.

source:bernama