The proposed reopening of Malaysia’s international borders by March without mandatory quarantine will encourage more medical tourists in the country, said Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM).

Welcoming National Recovery Council (NRC) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's suggestion yesterday, APHM said that the nod would benefit an industry that contributed RM1.7 billion to the economy in 2019, with 151 hospitals in the association ready to start again.

“However, private hospitals will strictly adhere to all standard operating procedures SOP by the Ministry of Health on the screening of medical tourists before accepting medical tourists for treatment. 

“We will accept fully vaccinated medical tourists with booster dose [preferably] so that there is less risk of them falling very ill should there be a Covid-19 infection during the course of treatment and further to protect our local health care providers,” it said in a statement today.

On a separate note, the association said that private hospitals are ready to accept patients from public hospitals should there be a need in the event there is an unlikely surge of Omicron patients in the government facilities.

“During the Delta Covid-19 peak last year, 113 private hospitals received outsourced patients from 49 Ministry of Health (MoH) hospitals. 
“We are confident to continue our support to the government to ease the burden,” it added.

It also encouraged the public to immediately get their booster jab while announcing that private hospitals will assist with the vaccination of children between five and 11 years-old in the near future.

Yesterday, NRC suggested for the country’s international borders to be fully reopened without any mandatory quarantine by next month.

Its chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, said, however visitors should undergo Covid-19 tests prior to and right after arriving at the country, as recommended by MoH.