"The website (www.myhealthcare.gov.my) will serve as a gateway for potential patients and visitors to explore what the Malaysian healthcare services sector has to offer in terms of medical treatment options, state-of-the-art health and medical facilities and general information on Malaysia," he said.

Thirty-five private hospitals in the country had been identified to promote the healthcare travel programme, Liow said, adding that the government hoped more hospitals and dental clinics would participate.

He said the ministry would propose to the cabinet the establishment of a healthcare travel council which would work with the Economic Planning Unit, relevant government agencies and the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia to champion the industry by consolidating the strengths of the government and private hospitals.

"We hope that such a platform will improve the quality of our medical practitioners and increase the space to unearth their potential.

"When the industry is gradually developed, we will be able to attract top medical practitioners from overseas to come to Malaysia, and this will be good for the healthcare industry."

Earlier, Liow said the number of foreign patients had increased almost ten-fold from 39,114 patients in 1998 to 374,063 last year, while the revenue generated from their hospital bills had grown from RM14.1 million to RM299 million during the same period, which was a compound growth rate of 35.7%.

He said statistics indicate that the healthcare services industry has the potential to be a new source of income that can be tapped and expanded.

"The multiplier effect of health tourism would be boost for other tourism-related industries such as hotel and transportation because foreign patients with accompanying family and friends would also use these services.