SINGAPORE – With Singaporeans able to tap on their Medisave from next month to pay for treatment at 12 Malaysian hospitals, some of the latter are taking steps to lure medical tourists across the Causeway.

Gleneagles Hospital in Kuala Lumpur, for one, has tied up with travel agents and airlines. They plan to offer seamless travel between cities as well as medical care made cheaper from savings on the exchange rate.

For example: It cost Singaporean Mr Tan Chu Eng, 47, half what he would have had to pay here, to get an angiogram done at a private hospital in KL recently.

Said hospital chief executive Amir Firdaus: “We do not have a two-tier policy. It is one policy, one price for anybody who walks into Gleneagles.”

A single room costs less than $100, or US$70 ($98.60) a night. But if money is not an issue, the hospital offers a presidential suite complete with butler service for under US$1,000 a night.

The chief executive of Malaysia’s Firefly airlines, Mr Eddy Leong, said: “Flying is a hassle, security, baggage and so on. We try to make it a bit more seamless. If you need to, we can arrange the ambulance to go straight to the airport.”

From March 1, Singaporeans can use their Medisave funds to pay for hospitalisation and day surgeries at one of the accredited hospitals in Malaysia. To do so, they must first obtain a referral from accredited institutions in Singapore. Melissa Goh