GEORGE TOWN – Penang has linked up with passenger carrier Firefly as part of plans to expand its medical tourism reach to the Indian subcontinent.
Penang Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the Penang International Airport will be Firefly’s regional hub.
This will play into the state’s aspiration to promote its medical tourism services to the Indian subcontinent region market, including Pakistan and Bangladesh nationals, he said.
Yeoh said that tapping the subcontinent’s medical tourists is made possible because Firefly is now flying jetliners such as Boeing 737 which can fly longer than seven hours in the air.
Firefly falls under the control of national airliner Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd.
Yeoh said that since the gradual reopening of leisure travel about two years ago, Penang has earned RM352 million in revenue from its array of private and public hospitals.
The medical facilities treat many foreign tourists, of whom the bulk are Indonesians.
Yeoh said the strategic collaboration between Firefly and the Adventist Hospital in Penang to bring in medical tourists from Medan was launched, with the inaugural flight departing today.
At the launch of the collaboration today, Firefly chief operating officer Capt Hamdan Che Ismail said that the airline is responsive to Penang’s move to expand its medical tourism reach, saying that it has a fleet of four jets serving the Penang hub now.
It plans to have up to 12 more jet aircraft to serve regional and domestic routes.
Hamdan said that Firefly will also increase its frequencies in tandem with demand.
Meanwhile, Adventist Hospital chief operating officer Ronald Koh said that the hospital, which is one of the oldest in Penang, has specialisation for most ailments, and up to 260 beds.
Within the next five years, Adventist plans to establish a high-rise tower building. The hospital would double its existing bed count to meet the anticipated demand from medical tourism and domestic patients – The Vibes, February 17, 2023.
