Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital Programme

A medical tourism powerhouse in Melaka

“ Mahkota is one of the few hospitals in Malaysia that have been given a licence to perform transplant surgery and our surgeons have already carried out many kidney transplants with 100 percent good outcomes .”

The centre entered the medical tourism fray earlier than others when it began inviting Indonesian patients to its facilities back in 1998 during medical tourism ’ s infancy .

“ We set up our first representative o�ce overseas in 2000 and we now have 17 to make sure patients are well informed and confident about our services before coming to Malaysia ,” Stanley Lam , Mahkota ’ s CEO , told GlobalHealth Asia-Pacific . “ These efforts and the quality of our care led us to treat almost 100,000 foreign patients in 2019 or about one third of our patient volume .”

This popularity among international patients makes Mahkota a natural finalist for the Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital Programme , which is likely to cement the centre ’ s position as a leading medical tourism destination in Melaka .

“ I think the programme is a good initiative because it brings lots of experts together to collaborate with hospitals on how to further upgrade their care and service quality along with international branding ,” explained Lam , adding that it would also help Mahkota accelerate its service digitalisation . A new mobile phone application is already in the pipeline and will be launched in the near future to help patients register at the hospital , book consultations , or check test results .

But perhaps the greatest benefit from the Flagship

Programme is the government seal of approval . “ With a government agency like the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council selecting the best hospitals for medical tourism , foreign patients will see Mahkota as a trustworthy centre because the whole nation is endorsing it ,” he said . “ It ’ s a very important milestone for us .”

The endorsement would also help Mahkota increase its popularity in countries where it ’ s currently marketing its services more aggressively , Bangladesh and Vietnam .

“ I have gone to Bangladesh for four times in the last months to meet the management of local hospitals and provide local doctors with second opinions from our experts ,” said Lam . “ Our focus is to provide additional options to Bangladeshi patients for further treatment .”

Advanced treatments that a growing number of medical tourists are likely to seek at Mahkota include cancer care and organ transplantation . The hospital now boasts a centre of excellence accredited by the Joint Commission International where patients can receive comprehensive cancer care for multiple malignancies . It also performs organ transplants , including for patients requiring a new kidney , liver , or cornea .

“ Mahkota is one of the few hospitals in Malaysia that have been given a licence to perform transplant surgery and our surgeons have already carried out many kidney transplants with 100 percent good outcomes ,” said Lam . “ We think this is an important service to offer because it can be lifesaving for

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