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Re: Malaysia International Medical Tourism ***0 (Melaka Chapter) Venue: Bayview Hotel Melaka, Malaysia Date: June *3 - *5, ***0 (3 days) Malaysia being a tourist destination known for its cultural, historical and natural attractions, is now starting to make its mark as an affordable yet sophisticated healthcare hub in Asia. Malaysia has ambitions to develop itself as a medical tourism hub. The country has excellent hospitals, English is widely spoken and many staff are well-trained both locally and internationally. To strengthen Malaysia&#**9;s position as a medical and healthcare hub and promoting the country as a destination for advanced patient care. Patients come from neighbouring countries are growing. Patients from developed countries are beginning to choose Malaysia as their medical travel destination for relatively affordable healthcare service in a friendly and cosy cosmopolitan city. The increasing popularity of medical travel include high cost of healthcare, long wait times for certain procedures, the ease and affordability of international travel and improvements in both technology and standards of care in many countries. The growth in medical tourism has the potential of cost the healthcare providers billions of dollars (USD) in host revenue. A large draw to medical travel is conveninece and speed. “Medical tourism could generate USD4.4 billion for Asia by ***2.” Advantages for medical tourist include reduced cost, the availability of latest medical technologies and a growing compliance on international quality standards, as well as the fact the foreigners are less likely to face a language barrier in Malaysia. Malaysia would want to position itself as a moderate medical tourism destination, but rather create a niche market within the health tourism sector.