PETALING JAYA: The proposal to open Malaysia's borders fully from March 1 will bring more medical tourists to Malaysia, says the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM).

       Its president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said that medical tourism generated RM1.7bil for Malaysia in 2019, adding that this was halted since the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020.

       “The Association has 151 member hospitals throughout the country with the majority of them treating medical tourists, particularly from neighbouring countries,” he added in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 9).

       However, Dr Kuljit said that private hospitals will strictly adhere to all standard operating procedures by the Health Ministry on the screening of medical tourists before accepting them for treatment.

       “We will accept fully-vaccinated medical tourists, preferably those who have received a booster dose so that risk of them falling very ill is reduced should there be a Covid-19 infection during the course of treatment," he said.

       “On another note, private hospitals are ready to accept decanted patients from public hospitals should there be a need in the event there is an unlikely surge of Omicron patients in the government facilities,” added Dr Kuljit.

       Dr Kuljit said that during the peak of the Covid-19 Delta variant in 2021, 113 private hospitals received out-sourced patients from 49 Health Ministry hospitals.

       “We are confident that we can continue to support the government to ease the burden as mentioned by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in his speech on Feb 7, 2022," said Dr Kuljit.

       He also said that private hospitals have been included in the National Covid-19 Rapid Response Task Force (RRTF) to facilitate this process.

       Dr Kuljit then added that the APHM urges the public to get their booster doses at the earliest and said that are a few private hospitals currently helping to provide these booster vaccines.

       “Very soon private hospitals will also assist with the vaccination of children aged between five and 11," he said.

       Dr Kuljit added that it is shown that complete vaccination with a booster has brought the severity of the pandemic down and it has encouraged economic recovery with the opening of international borders.

       On Tuesday (Feb 8), the National Recovery Council (NRC) recommended that the country’s international borders be fully reopened by March 1 without a mandatory quarantine.

       However, NRC chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said visitors should undergo Covid-19 tests prior to and right after arriving in the country, as recommended by the Health Ministry.