KL Wellness City aims to ramp up medical tourism

KL Wellness City (KLWC) is aiming to drive medical tourism in Malaysia by creating a 360-degree wellness hub that spans the distance of the township. According to its website, KLWC has established two ecosystems - the Nobel Healthcare Park and the International Tertiary Hospital. 

The former is located in Bukit Jalil and consists of medical, business, wellness and retail suites, has a fully-connected ecosystem of specialists and ancillary medical services. Lee added that these ecosystems especially aid those who are still recovering and may need continued rehabilitation or physiotherapy.  The executive director of branding, sales and marketing, Datuk Seri Vincent Tiew said, “Our bookings for the medical suites of the first phase of the Nobel Healthcare Park [opened in April 2022] are 75% taken up, so far.” He also added that based on their observations, the buyers of the medical suites are mostly doctors and medical practitioners based in Klang Valley, Ipoh, Penang and Johor. 

According to its website, the hub aims to cultivate a lifestyle fully integrated with healthcare and will cover all aspects of health and wellness - medical care, fitness and business, along with residential, retail and commercial offerings. 

KLWC’s managing director, Datuk Colin Lee said that ‘rehab and wellness development for healthcare travel’ are critical aspects of healthcare that are in need of improvements. KLWC aims to address the gaps in the system which allows for a holistic understanding of medical tourism. 

The pandemic was a point of focus in KLWC’s conceptualisation. Since COVID-19 hit, the need to be more cognisant of one’s health has become more important. Especially with Malaysia opening up its borders to Chinese tourists, there is an expected resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

According to Bloomberg, in the last week of December, almost 37 million people may have been infected with Covid-19 in a single day, making the current surge in cases the worst the country has faced. The article reported that this could be a consequence of Beijing’s easing of Covid Zero restrictions which led to the unbridled spread of the virus.  Bloomberg also predicted that China could be facing 25, 000 deaths a day from Covid-19, which could follow well into the Lunar New Year weekend.

This has been a cause for concern among the public and experts over the state of Malaysia’s healthcare system that could collapse if there is a surge in cases, media reports.

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