KOTA KINABALU, Oct 6 — Sabah is working on becoming a medical tourism destination in the region, said state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew.

With the perfect makings for an idyllic holiday and competitive medical facilities at reasonable prices as well as convention facilities, Liew said this was a market in which Sabah could excel.

"Sabah is an ideal one-stop destination for travel, healthcare and wellness, with direct flight accessibility from major cities in the South-east Asian region. With advanced medical and healthcare infrastructure at our disposal, Sabah is on track to become the preferred destination for medical tourism in the region.

"We have world-class medical and healthcare facilities and services comparable to the best in Asean. Private hospitals in Sabah such as Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu, KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital and Jesselton Medical Centre, to name a few, offer a full range of medical and surgical services as well as healthcare services,” she said.

Liew said this after attending the opening ceremony of the 34th Annual Scientific Congress of Malaysian Oncological Society at Sabah International Convention Centre here.

The Api Api assemblyman said medical and healthcare tourism is not new to Sabah as its first private hospital — Sabah Medical Centre — began to attract medical tourists some 20 years ago.

International visitors and tourists from more than 10 countries sought treatment at the SMC for various medical conditions. The healthcare industry in Sabah is now bolstered by eight private hospitals, mostly in and around the city centre.

"And during the first term of my ministership in 2019, we were in the process of setting up the Sabah Health Tourism Council, but a change of government the following year (2020) thwarted our effort,” she said.

Medical tourism took a back seat during the Covid-19 pandemic when international travel came to a standstill, but the recent reopening of borders has seen encouraging response from travellers in the region seeking medical treatments, including cancer care.

"Based on health tourism statistics from the KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital, there has been an increase in the number of foreign patients by 20.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 versus the same period last year.

"Similarly, the revenue generated from providing medical and health services to these patients has registered an increase by 2.5 percent in the same period. I understand that patients from a neighbouring country (Indonesia) were seeking interventional cardiology treatment (example, Angioplasty) and orthopaedic surgery, among others, at the KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital,” she said.

The number of accident and emergency visits to the hospital by international tourists between January and September this year also doubled compared to the same period last year, due to the increase number of tourists following the resumption of direct scheduled flights from China, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore.

Earlier, Liew said the oncology event, which is held for the second time in Sabah, saw a total of more than 900 participants from all over Malaysia and overseas.

Present were Health Ministry National Radiotherapy and Oncology Services head Dr Ros Suzanna Ahmad Bustamam, organising chairman Dr Flora Chong, Malaysian Oncological Society honorary president Dr Muthukkumaran Tthigarajan, and Sabah Women's and Children's Hospital director Dr Marcus Netto.