By John Krich
3 September 2004
The Asian Wall Street Journal

(c) 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. To see the edition in which this article appeared, click here http://awsj.com.hk/factiva-ns

Beyond the trade in retooled bodies and surgical procedures in foreign countries, more serious issues loom. The most obvious for the unwitting tourist is the potential damage from a botched procedure -- and the difficulties dealing with a foreign legal system if a patient wants to sue. "The damage amount would be in local currency, and the burden of proof is on the patient -- and, unfortunately, there could be a backlog in such cases of five to eight years," says S. Radhakrishnan, a consultant to the law firm Shearn Delamore & Co. in Kuala Lumpur.

Kelly Turner, the Gorgeous Getaways client from England, was mindful of the pitfalls of undergoing a surgical procedure far away from home. "Of course, I was concerned about having surgery in another country," she says. "I was worried, until the doctor and the (tour) operator explained their guarantee to fly me back to correct anything. Actually, that was better than the clinic in England, which said I had to pay them fully whether or not I was pleased with their results."

Whatever the potential dangers, medical tourism raises broader issues for the host country. Malaysia, for instance, has a chronic shortage of doctors. And while some of Malaysia's facilities are state-of-the-art and practitioners are renowned for complex operations, the country has a way to go before all facilities reach internationally recognized standards. Of the 35 medical facilities in the country earmarked for foreign visitors, only 14 have fully met world-class certification standards, says Dr. K. Kulaveerasingam, director of Kuala Lumpur's Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital and one of the head committee members of the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia.

"With all the long (surgery) waiting lists in countries like the U.K., travel agents keep asking me why Malaysia has waited so long," he says. "My only answer is that we're being more careful than our competitors, hoping that slow and steady can win the race."

Malaysian residents may also be losers in the race to target foreign patients, says Dr. T. Jayabalan, who works with the Consumers Association of Penang. "We've got a huge disparity in terms of doctors per patient between the city and the country, where we've got our own waits of up to eight months for cataract operations, or two years for a bypass," he says. Dr. Jayabalan fears that "doctors will be drawn to the new wings catering to foreigners, who will share valuable resources, so local people will get shortchanged. Instead of improving our health care system . . . we will be subsidizing First World care at Third World prices."

- John Krich

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