PETALING JAYA: Industry observers opined that Malaysia’s healthcare sector will show positive growth in 2025, driven by medical tourism, an ageing population and the adoption of digital technologies.
Consultancy firm Meet Ventures’ partner John Lim said the Malaysian healthcare sector is poised for growth with the rise of medical tourism and preventive care.
From the lens of a technology investor and innovation consultant, he said, Malaysia is gaining a reputation as a medical tourism hub due to its relative affordability, skilled medical professionals and high-quality healthcare facilities.
“From a demand perspective, patients from the Asean region are coming to Malaysia for medical treatment as it could be more expensive or more difficult to access in their home country.
“From a supply perspective, universities such as IMU University, a leading private university specialising in the healthcare sector, also help to groom new healthcare professionals to meet the growing demand,“ he told SunBiz.
He added that with the proportion of citizens aged 65 and above steadily increasing, there is likely to be a growing demand for geriatric care, chronic disease management and long-term healthcare solutions.
“Preventive care will also be increasingly important to promote healthy ageing through lifestyle interventions and early disease detection,“ he said.
Lim said Malaysia’s healthcare sector in 2025 will see significant advancements driven by digital transformation.
“Recent developments in AI-driven solutions for predictive diagnostics, robotic-assisted surgery, and administrative automation will enhance efficiency and reduce costs. More hospitals will also adopt smart hospital technologies to optimize patient care,“ he added.
Lim said technology-driven solutions such as remote monitoring, AI-assisted diagnostics, and telehealth will also become crucial in efficiently managing elderly patients. “In fact, some Malaysian hospitals such as Subang Jaya Medical Centre have already launched and implemented these connected healthcare services.”
According to RHB Investment Bank Bhd, the growth outlook for Malaysia’s healthcare sector in 2025 is promising, with investors’ continued appetite for high-quality healthcare assets remaining intact. It said this sustained demand from investors would be driven by a permanent, structural shift due to the country’s ageing population.
It added that the government’s recent initiatives in setting up national health insurance and takaful products represent more sustainable measures in ensuring equitable access to public and private healthcare.
“Such mechanisms are similar to Singapore’s MediSave, where income earners are mandated to contribute a portion of their salary to a pool of funds (managed by a government-owned entity), and the savings can be used for medical treatment when needed,“ it said in a research note, while maintaining an “overweight” rating on the country’s healthcare sector.
However, the investment bank said the regulatory overhang arising from the diagnosis-related group (DRG) pricing mechanism could affect investor sentiment in the near term. “Ultimately, we believe the implementation of the DRG pricing mechanism still requires extensive study and engagement with various stakeholders, given the complexity of each medical procedure and its underlying costs.”
