Malaysia's Penang lures medical tourists from Indonesia

Geographic proximity, linguistic similarities, quality and costs among advantages

20231102 A Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council booth inside Penang International Airport's arrival hall

A woman walks inside Penang International Airport's arrival hall. The Malaysian state of Penang is popular with Indonesian medical tourists. (Photo by Randy Mulyanto)

RANDY MULYANTO, Contributing writer

PENANG, Malaysia -- The state of Penang intends to attract more medical tourists from Indonesia, even as Indonesian authorities ramp up health care infrastructure to keep billions of dollars from fleeing the country as many citizens travel elsewhere for treatment.

About two hours from Jakarta by air, Penang counts Indonesia as its primary source of inbound medical tourists. The nonprofit Penang Centre of Medical Tourism (PMED) in January reached a "protocol of medical tourism collaboration" with Indonesian low-cost airline Citilink.

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