Malaysia Becomes Asian Health Care Meeting Hub

By Michael Hart -- Tradeshow Week, 3/4/2009 2:43:00 PM

While the domestic edition of the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, scheduled for next month in Chicago, is sure to attract attention because of economic-stimulus fever, the third edition of the Asian version of the shows organized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, HIMSS AsiaPac, reportedly attracted more than 1,500 attendees Feb. 24-27 to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The health care IT sector is growing globally, so it makes sense that Malaysia would be the site of the Asian edition of HIMSS (after Singapore in 2007 and Hong Kong last year). Besides, HIMSS AsiaPac, Kuala Lumpur will host seven more health care-related meetings this year.

In a keynote talk at HIMSS AsiaPac, Dr. Maimunah A. Hamid, deputy director of Health Malaysia, said health care was high on the country’s national agenda.

“We have identified eight goals that focus on wellness,” Hamid said. “Four percent of the country’s gross domestic product is spent on health with more than 137 ministry of health hospitals and 229 private health care institutions.”

At the same time, according to NuWire Investors, an investment news service, Malaysia – along with Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and India – is the focus of the growing trend of medical tourism, in which patients from developing countries travel to receive affordable medical care. NuWire officials said that by 2012 it will be a $4 billion business, attracting 1.3 million visitors each year to Asia.

Besides HIIMSS AsiaPac, Kuala Lumpur this year has hosted or will host:

-         Asia Pacific Congress on Hypertension, Feb. 20-22, 1,500 attendees expected

-         Southeast Asian Healthcare Show and Conference, April 1-3, 5,000 attendees expected, being held in Kuala Lumpur for the third consecutive year

-         APHM Intl. Healthcare Conference & Exhibition (Assn. of Private Hospitals of Malaysia), July 21-23, 200 attendees expected

-         Video Urology World Congress, July 24-26, 800 attendees expected

-         Stem Cells and Immunity Conference, Oct. 1-3, 700 attendees expected

-         World Congress on Military Medicine, Oct. 4-10, 750 attendees expected

-         AOSPINE Global Interactive Conference (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragene), Oct. 25-30, 500 attendees expected