However, an acute shortage of nurses could hold back the state from fulfilling its potential as a medical tourism hub.
JOHOR BAHRU: When restaurant owner Jason Grantino tore his anterior cruciate ligament last September while playing basketball, one of the first things the Batam resident did was to book ferry tickets to Johor.
Three follow-up appointments later, Mr Grantino is on the road to a full recovery and looks forward to resuming his basketball games in a few months.He told CNA that he was willing to endure the discomfort and hassle of cross-border travel in order to get treated in Johor.Mr Grantino recounted how some of his family members had bad experiences with medical procedures in Batam, and that he did not want to risk any botched treatments.
Over the last two decades, a slew of private hospitals have sprouted up across the Iskandar Malaysia region. Some of these hospitals offer state-of-the-art medical facilities and have attracted patients from Indonesia, Singapore and China. Dr Jennifer Lee - who is an ear, nose and throat specialist at Regency Specialist Hospital - told CNA that 2 out of 5 of her patients are medical tourists.
Columbia Asia’s regional manager Rahani Yaakob, who oversees both hospitals, told CNA that the level of occupancy is driven by “the tremendous increase in foreign patients seeking treatment”. Dr Teo Yin Keong, an oncologist at Gleneagles Medini, told CNA that the treatment is cheaper because some pharmaceutical companies, including the big players, supply drugs at a cheaper price to Malaysian hospitals as compared to hospitals in neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, Singaporean Norfadzilla Rahmat, who is four months pregnant, told CNA that she purchased a pre-natal screening package with Columbia Asia Hospital Tebrau, a private hospital which is around a 10-minute drive from the Woodlands Causeway. She added that while she is planning to do prenatal checks in Johor, she is keen to deliver her baby in a Singapore hospital.
In January, Johor chief minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi said that the state government was exploring the possibility of ferry services between Singapore and Puteri Harbour. Additionally, private hospitals in Johor are stepping up efforts to expand their premises as well as quality of services. In spite of efforts to beef up Johor’s medical tourism offerings, an issue that could impact plans is a shortage in nurses.
He said among reasons for the shortage was due to a significant number of local nurses who chose to work across the Causeway in Singapore instead.Foreign nurses drawn to Singapore’s location and ease of application, but more needed to retain them
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