Sherene Azura Azli

Malaysia aims to become the medical tourism destination of choice for Bangladeshis, leveraging the growing stature of its healthcare industry.

The Southeast Asian nation is targeting a total of 20,000 medical tourists from Bangladesh this year, up 33 percent year-on-year, according to Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), an agency of the Malaysian health ministry.

For that end, its flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, is offering a 30 percent discount on air fare for Bangladeshi patients.

However, to take advantage of the offer, customers have to go through GD Assist, a subsidiary of Green Delta Insurance Company that has been acting as MHTC's local agent in promoting Malaysian medical tourism.

Wan Mohd Ebrahem, general manager of Malaysia Airlines in Dhaka, and Farzana Chowdhury, director of GD Assist, signed the relevant deal on behalf of the two parties yesterday.

“The discount is not the only issue, the most important factor is that we want to provide the best support and assistance from the very first step,” said Ebrahem.

Prior to the signing ceremony, MHTC's newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer Sherene Azura Azli, who is on a three-day visit to Bangladesh, said a lot of Bangladeshis go to Malaysia for their holidays.

Around three lakh Bangladeshis visit Malaysia a year for tourism purposes, according to Chowdhury. “So why not extend your trip a little and get your health checked up or go for treatment?” Azli said.

“We have sufficient availability of international standard hospitals, medical personnel and high-quality facilities to provide treatments across different ranges of the cost spectrum.”

The cost will be 30-40 percent cheaper than in Thailand and will be a third of the treatment cost in Singapore -- the two most preferred destinations for Bangladeshi patients, she said, adding that the doctors cannot charge beyond the limit set by the Malaysian regulator.

“We have the opportunity to brand and position ourselves as a provider of affordable quality healthcare,” Azli said, referring to a recent report that ranked Malaysia the best medical travel destination in the world.

The MHTC also expects that more than 10 lakh people across the world will visit Malaysia for medical tourism purpose this year. “But it's not about the number, it's about the quality of treatment -- and we don't compromise on quality.” Nasir A Choudhury, chairman of GD Assist, said a lot of people go India, Thailand and Singapore for treatment. “But we don't have much experience of Malaysian healthcare.”

Now, Green Delta Insurance has tied up with MHTC to promote Malaysian healthcare in Bangladesh, said Choudhury, also the founder managing director of Green Delta Insurance.

In November last year, GD Assist launched an insurance scheme, GD Health, to offer medical and health services in Malaysia. Policyholders can get healthcare and medical services at affordable costs in Malaysian hospitals that are linked with MHTC.

“We want to provide an integrated value-added service to our clients so that all Bangladeshi people can visit Malaysia with a package of medical tourism and not only with a package of holidays,” said GD Assist Director Chowdhury.

Norlin Binti Othman, high commissioner of Malaysia in Dhaka, said the deal between the GD Assist and Malaysia Airlines is another example of bilateral cooperation to offer Bangladeshi people Malaysian healthcare services in a more organised and systematic manner.