Medical Tourism from the Perspectives of Industry Players: How Critical is Government Support?

The present study aims to derive the role of the government in developing Malaysian medical tourism. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed thematically using Atlas.ti version 8. The study derived four main challenges facing private hospitals and healthcare facilitators, which are regulatory burden, scarcity of health professionals, poor collaboration with state government and low cooperation from other agencies. These challenges then drew the government’s role accordingly. Hence, this article strongly calls for regular dialogues between government agencies, private hospitals and healthcare facilitators to ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page about developing the industry. Keywords: Medical Tourism, Private Hospitals, Healthcare Facilitators, Government  eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.291

Service Providers’ Behaviour in Light of Developing the Medical Tourism Industry in Malaysia: At the Expense of Local Patients?

Despite the concern that medical tourism causes local patients to be neglected, this article attempts to prove the otherwise. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with doctors and private hospitals that serve medical tourists. Through Atlas.ti version 8, our interviews found that the locals are still the primary focus as medical tourists only take about 10% on average of the total patients in these hospitals. Further, hospitals are bound to Act 586 by the central government. This research suggests for the policy-makers to take the necessary proactive actions in developing the medical tourism industry while simultaneously catering for the locals’ needs.Keywords: Medical Tourism; Local Patients; Public Healthcare; Healthcare EquityeISSN: 2398-4287© 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1714         

Serving the medical tourists in Malaysia: are local patients being put the second? / Norzayana Yusof and Herwina Rosnan.

Despite the concern that local patients are being put the second, this article attempts to prove the otherwise. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with a government division, medical doctors, and private hospitals serving medical tourists. Through Atlas.ti version 8, it is found that locals are still the primary focus as medical tourists only take about 10%, on average, of the total patients in these hospitals. Further, hospitals only went aggressive in medical tourism after their capacity expansion. This research suggests for the policy-makers to take the necessary actions in developing medical tourism industry while simultaneously catering for the locals’ needs

Service Culture of the Workforce in the Medical Tourism Industry: is Malaysia on Par With Thailand?

Despite the progressive revenue trend, service providers in Malaysia's medical tourism have been receiving numerous complaints. Hence, this article sets to illustrate the behaviour of the service providers by describing whether they met the expectations of medical tourists. This study conducted twelve in-depth interviews with private hospitals, doctors and healthcare facilitators. Through Atlas.ti version 8, this study unveils that Malaysia lacks behind Thailand in providing patient-centric hospital services. Due to the 'doctor shopping' behaviour and word-of-mouth between patients, the present situation may hamper the growth of this industry as patients could easily opt for alternative options for their treatments.Keywords: Medical Tourism; Private Healthcare; Service Culture; Service Providers’ BehavioureISSN: 2398-4287© 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1730         

Internationalisation of healthcare: a fairer approach for local patients / Nuraisyah Chua Abdullah, Herwina Rosnan and Norzayana Yusof.

Malaysia is among the selected countries for medical tourism due to its excellent healthcare services. Nevertheless, there are concerns if service providers are balancing the local and foreign patients’ healthcare demands due to the similarities and differences of their behaviour on these two groups. Through literature analysis, it is found the lack of discussion on medical practitioners’ behaviour towards local patients, this paper aims to analyse the that unhealthy behaviour towards local patients is profound. Hence, the discussions are hoped to spark the policy-makers’ attention in restructuring the healthcare policy to realign the medical practitioners’ behaviour on both patient groups

Healthcare Internationalisation: An analysis of the behaviour of medical practitioners towards local patients

Malaysia is among the chosen countries for medical tourism due to its excellent healthcare services. Nevertheless, there are concerns if service providers are balancing the local and foreign patient’s demands. Due to the lack of discussion on medical practitioners’ behaviour towards local patients, this paper aims to analyse the similarities and differences of their behaviour on these two groups. Through literature analysis, it is found that unhealthy behaviour towards local patients is profound. Hence, the discussions are hoped to spark the policy-makers’ attention in restructuring the healthcare policy to realign the medical practitioners’ behaviour on both patient groups.eISSN: 2398-4287© 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v3i8.138

SME Healthcare Operators’ Readiness to Accreditation: Challenges and the way forward

SME healthcare include the number of beds and other healthcare facilities that are not inpatient-based. While there is over 70 Malaysian healthcare centres that attract foreign patients, only thirteen are internationally accredited. Analysis from literature found that Malaysian SME healthcare providers are not ready for accreditation which partially due to financial and human resource constraints. Future research is called to gain empirical data on understanding the readiness, challenges and strategies to be implemented. The article is prominent in assisting the SME healthcare providers’ behavioural change on the way towards accreditation for the growth of the medical tourism industry in Malaysia.eISSN: 2398-4287© 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v3i8.139