Asia Heart Institute

Malaysia hospital tops 2013 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Malaysia hospital tops list of 2013 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists ™

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May 8, 2013 – Bangkok and Scottsdale – For the first time, a Malaysian hospital is named the top hospital for medical tourists in the annual ranking by the Medical Travel Quality Alliance (MTQUA, https://mtqua.org).

After reviewing top hospitals around the world, Prince Court Medical Center (http://www.princecourt.com) in Kuala Lumpur was selected as the hospital that best provides medical tourists with outstanding care beyond standard clinical protocols as well as excellent medical treatment.

“Prince Court is already known as an outstanding medical facility,” says Julie Munro, MTQUA president. “This award recognizes that it also pays the utmost attention to key non-clinical aspects of care that influence good outcomes and a successful medical travel journey for medical tourists.”

MTQUA believes medical tourists are not ordinary patients, and require care beyond standard clinical protocols. Communication, cultural expectations, social practices, ethics, and post-discharge care coordination are some of the factors that affect good care for traveling international patients.

“It’s almost impossible for medical tourists to know how to find a good hospital that will truly provide the treatment and care they are traveling to get. We hope consumers and doctors will pay more attention to non-clinical factors that can significantly impact clinical outcomes and not just ask about hotels and airport pickups,” says Munro.

Also for the first time, seven of the top 10 hospitals are in Asia, serving hundreds of thousands of medical tourists from the region and beyond for inpatient and outpatient medical treatment.

Thailand, often thought to be the most popular medical destination, may be losing its top standing as its underdeveloped medical tourism infrastructure and its strong baht are causing patients and facilitators to look for alternative medical destinations and creating opportunities for Thailand’s key competitors, Malaysia and Turkey.

Selection criteria are found here.

The Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™ for 2013 are

  1. Prince Court Medical Center, Malaysia
  2. Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Germany
  3. Clemenceau Medical Center, Lebanon
  4. Fortis Hospital Bangalore, India
  5. Wooridul Spine Hospital, Korea
  6. Bumrungrad International, Thailand
  7. Anadolu Medical Center, Turkey
  8. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Thailand
  9. Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore
  10. Asian Heart Institute, India

About Medical Travel Quality Alliance: MTQUA (https://mtqua.org) is an international independent organization founded in 2009 to promote safety and quality in treatment and care for medical tourists. It encourages professional development in the medical tourism industry and offers medical tourism certification, publishes Best Practices in Medical Tourism series and operates a Patient Registry for international traveling patients. Follow MTQUA on Twitter (@MTQUA), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/mtqua/) and LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2539357&trk=group-name

Contact:
Caroline Bodanis
Telephone +1 602 6354664,  +66 859024500
Email  caroline@mtqua.org

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Top 10 World’s Best Hospitals For Medical Tourists 2013 List by Medical Travel Quality Alliance

Medical Travel Quality Alliance Top 10 Worlds Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists 2013

A medical traveler should be aware that safety and quality in any hospital – no matter how good it is, and what country it’s in – is not guaranteed. We strongly urge all medical travelers to seriously consider using the services of an experienced, professional medical travel company that offers a full range of care management services on the ground. Any medical travel company, doctor, clinic or hospital that is Medical Travel Certified by MTQUA supports total care management for medical tourists.

Read the press release.
Nominate a hospital as a World’s Best Hospital for Medical Tourists™.
Criteria for selection.

1. Prince Court Medical Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Prince Court Medical Center provides excellent surgery options for medical travelers. Special services include a sophisticated burn unit, an In Vitro Fertility department with multiple fetal monitoring. A senior manager coordinates all international patient and medical tourist services and procedures, assuring medical tourists that coordination of care that meets the needs of the medical traveler is a priority. Read more about what makes Prince Court Medical Center great.

2. Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany

Asklepios Klinik Barmbeck hired a new medical tourism manager to improve and support organizational response for medical tourists. It has increased its efforts to meet the needs of medical travelers in their home countries. Newly revised and updated medical tourism handbooks in Arabic and Russian as well as English provide extensive information about the hospital’s services. This hospital is of particular value for medical tourists who need treatment beyond the scope of their top facilities at home. It partners with innovative medical technology companies from Germany to test the most modern medical equipment before it is released worldwide. Asklepios Group is the largest private hospital operator in Europe.

3. Clemenceau Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

Clemenceau has ties with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and stands out as perhaps the leading hospital in the Middle East. This past year, CMC adopted “Six International Patient Safety Goals”, increased the use of encryption protected passwords to access patient electronic records, and introduced multidisciplinary rounds to better coordinate medical treatment for patients. It conducts an ongoing review of international patient trouble spots such as billings and ethical dilemmas in care.

4. Fortis Hospital, Bangalore, India

This Fortis Hospital, formerly Wockhardt Hospital, provides excellent surgery options for medical travelers seeking orthopedic procedures including hip resurfacing and replacement. It works closely with some US-based medical travel agents for follow up care and services of American patients once they return home.

5. Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, Korea

This unique hospital is a world leader in medical treatment of the spine. Wooridul’s influence and prestige has spread worldwide through its doctors and its joint ventures with hospitals in Asia and Europe. It is the only specialized hospital on this Top 10 list.

6. Bumrungrad International, Bangkok, Thailand

The most well-known hospital for medical tourists, Bumrungrad has been taking foreign patients for 20 years. It has invested heavily in integration of medical records, pharmacy, labs and other hospital departments into a state-of-the-art electronic environment. Its focus on technology and its American style of management carry over to the Bumrungrad website, which is a model for other international hospitals. The hospital operates a network of exclusive representatives.

7. Anadolu Medical Center, Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is home to several excellent hospitals. Anadolu offers a very high standard of treatment and care, and seems to understand the needs of the medical traveler. It has an international focus, with multilingual doctors and nurses, and a keen awareness of the services and support systems a medical traveler should have.

8. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Bangkok, Thailand

The flagship of the largest private hospital chain in Thailand, Bangkok Hospital Medical Center meets several of the MTQUA criteria that make it one of the World’s Best Hospitals for Medical Tourists™. Individual hospitals of the medical center in Bangkok include the distinguished Bangkok Heart Hospital, Bangkok International Hospital, and Wattanosoth Cancer Hospital. The hospital lists qualified medical travel companies on its website and operates a network of representatives.

9. Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore

The Parkway Hospital Group may well be the standard bearer for private hospital care in Singapore, and Gleneagles Hospital is its flagship. The Parkway group owns and operates hospitals throughout Asia.

10. Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, India

It is one of the few centers in the world doing nearly 100% bypass surgeries on a beating heart and with
a very significant percentage using total arterial grafting. The hospital boasts the lowest surgical
mortality rates in the world with 0.26% in isolated bypass surgeries & an overall mortality of 0.8%. Some of
the most challenging and rare cases are performed regularly at AHI.

Special mention goes to these excellent hospitals for medical tourists that ranked very highly in our considerations for the Top 10 list for 2013.

Malaysia: Sime Darby Medical Centre Subang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur

Mexico: Christus Muguerza Super Specialty Hospital, Monterrey

South Africa: Mediclinic Morningside, Johannesburg

Spain: Barcelona Medical Centre, Barcelona

Top specialty hospitals and medical travel services