MY private hospitals endorse reopening int'l borders

One of the benefits they mentioned is the resumption of medical tourism.

The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) has encouraged the proposed reopening of the country's international borders by March. The mandatory quarantine will also be removed.

APHM welcomed National Recovery Council chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's suggestion, saying it would benefit an industry that contributed RM1.7b to the economy in 2019, with 151 hospitals in the association ready to start again.

"Private hospitals will strictly adhere to all standard operating procedures by the Ministry of Health on the screening of medical tourists before accepting medical them for treatment. We will accept fully vaccinated medical tourists, [preferably] with booster doses so that there is less risk of them falling very ill should there be a COVID-19 infection during treatment, as well as further protect our local health care providers,” the association said in a statement on 9 February.

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.