Page 11 - R&D News June 2021

Student Development and
Alumni Relations Prof Dr
Choong Chee Keong, FBF

Deputy Dean for R&D and
Postgraduate Programmes Dr
Choong Yuen Onn, FBF aca-
demic Dr Lam Siew Yong,
FBF academic Chin Lai
Kwan, Faculty of Information
and Communication Technol-
ogy academic Dr Chang Jing
Jing and Universiti Sains Ma-

laysia academic Dr Ooi Say
Keat. Funded by Fundamental
Research Grant Scheme pro-
ject FRGS/1/2019/SS01/U- The award cer�ficate
TAR/02/2 provided by the
Ministry of Higher Education customers for destination loy- vices at affordable prices in
of Malaysia, the research also alty by seeking the same med- Malaysia, thus, improving
achieves United Nation’s Sus- ical service providers in the their quality of life. In addi-
tainable Development Goals long run.” tion, it also creates jobs, cul-
3, 8, and 9. tural enrichment and techno-
Started in 2013, the research- logical advances within the

Seow explained, “The study ers have focused on tourism community. Therefore, local
generates a great opportunity studies, such as health tourism communities are encouraged
for the medical service pro- and medical tourism from to show support in terms of
viders and policymakers to international tourists' and empathy, kindness, host atti-
understand the effects of med- medical tourists’ perspective, tudes to medical tourists, and
ical service quality, perceived and gained numerous accept- extend cooperation to all
value, and satisfaction on des- ances by the publishers. bodies,” explained Seow.
tination loyalty. Besides, gov- “Medical tourism provides a
ernment agency such as Ma- positive social impact by In summary, collaborative

laysia Healthcare Travel allowing medical tourists efforts from all interested par-
Council (MHTC) could use access to enhanced health ser- ties to provide concerted sup-
the findings to target the right port to medical tourism pro-
grammes rolled out are essen-
tial. The Malaysian govern-