14-Feb-17 Malaysia has been recognised as among the top four destinations for foreigners, especially those from developed countries, to get good healthcare, according to a report by International Living magazine. Malaysia is the only Asian country in the report, ahead of Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico. [image: FMT News]

01-Feb-17 Malaysia is a popular destination for tourists from the Middle East, with nearly 200,000 arriving in 2016. The country is a key destination for medical tourism. In neighboring Thailand, tourism officials said the US ban could lift visitor numbers. "The Middle East is a big market for us, especially in the medical tourism sector," said Tourism Authority Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. [image: Reuters]

01-Feb-17 Medical tourists are coming to Malaysia, lured by high-quality yet affordable healthcare and the climate. “It’s more lucrative than conventional tourism because healthcare travellers tend to stay longer,” MATTA vice-president S. Jayakumar said. The country welcomed about 850,000 medical tourists in 2015 with revenue of MYR900 mn (USD203 mn) compared with MYR777 mn (USD175 mn) in 2014. [image: The Star]

17-Jan-17 India’s Practo has raised US$55 mn in funding led by China’s Tencent. The funds will be used to foray into health insurance, bundling it with its consumer-facing services. Practo aggregates over 200,000 doctors across 10,000 hospitals, 8,000 diagnostic centers and 4,000 wellness and fitness centers in India, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. [image: Tech In Asia]

11-Jan-17 American medical device contract manufacturer Paramit Corp announced the opening of its new facility located on mainland Penang in Malaysia. The site will be the region’s largest manufacturing facility for complex medical devices, realising sophisticated systems for genetic and molecular testing, robotic surgery and cancer treatment, and will also serve its current industrial products customer base. [image: The Star / Asri Abdul Ghani]