KOTA KINABALU: Kota Kinabalu is a strategic place to open up business in healthcare as it is five hours away from all major cities in Asia.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said the fact that there were 163 chartered flights to Sabah from overseas last year spoke volumes of the popularity of Sabah as a tourism destination.

He said the total number of direct international flights to Kota Kinabalu was 130 per week, including 27 flights weekly from Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu alone.

He said this when representing the Chief Minister in officiating at the Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu topping up ceremony yesterday.

The topping up ceremony held at the hospital’s construction site was done to commemorate the overall completion of the building structure by the developer.

Based on statistics, Masidi said Kota Kinabalu was well connected and that would be a commercial consideration for Gleneagles to set up a healthcare facility here.

He said China was an important market to Sabah.

In January and February, Sabah received 106 chartered flights from China, he said, explaining the market potential in Kota Kinabalu in terms of healthcare during his speech.

Masidi said Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu could be promoted as part of the tourism package in Kota Kinabalu.

He said Gleneagles was upping the ante and standard of healthcare services here.

When asked if Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu would just be another hospital to cater for the rich, Masidi said medical tourism was finding people who could afford to pay for the services.

“Maybe it will take a while for us to market, but I am confident Gleneagles will be able to do so.”

On a lighter note, he said Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu was located next to an entertainment hub, referring to KK Times Square and facing a beautiful sunset, so patients would recover in no time.

Source:The Borneo Post