In this issue , we talked to the new CEO of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council ( MHTC ), Mohd Daud Mohd Arif , who tells us how the Southeast Asian nation is rebuilding its healthcare travel industry — a sector that was booming until the pandemic brought global tourism to a halt .
To soften the blow of travel restrictions , last July the country formed a medical travel bubble with other countries to facilitate the flow of international patients to its private hospitals . Mohd Daud believes that travel bubbles can be expanded to allow more foreign patients to visit the country once the pandemic is under control .
And in another innovative move , the MHTC struck a deal with DoctorOnCall , one of Malaysia ’ s leading telehealth services platforms , to facilitate patient care online .
Despite all these efforts , Mohd Daud believes it will still take time for the health travel industry to rebound to pre-pandemic levels . He ’ ll be looking , in particular , at several important factors playing a role , such as vaccination rollouts , the lifting of travel restrictions , and the return of tourist confidence in travelling again .
In a highly probing piece on regenerative medicine , we explain how the muchtouted approach can be effective in treating several orthopaedic conditions , like knee arthritis . While it ’ s still far from the magic bullet that a lot of marketing material makes it out to be , experts agree it can play an important role in reducing pain or complementing existing treatments to improve outcomes .
We also interviewed a surgeon who has pioneered a new procedure to fix spinal curvature in children to highlight the role it could play in the clinic . Called vertebral body tethering ( VBT ), the surgery promises to cure the problem while sparing patients from the limited mobility associated with spinal fusion , the standard surgical treatment . But it ’ s still unclear who the best candidates are for this new approach .
Gabriele Bettinazzi Editor gabriele @ globalhealthandtravel . com
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6 OCTOBER 2021 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com