Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

With a well-studied educational system that has become the compact foundation for its homegrown talent and thus a vigorous economy, Malaysia it is for healthcare industry players, foreign direct investors and the risk-taking start-up financiers, specifically in the areas of research & development (R&D), production and distributorship of globally-accepted medical technology.

Malaysia Ambassador to the UAE Sirajuzzaman Tengku Mohamed Arifin, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE)-Export Promotion & Market Access Division-Lifestyle & Life Sciences Section Deputy Director Abdul Halim Mohamed Sharif, and IdealCare Managing Director Mohammed Heerman Haminuddin, Malaysia Medical Device Manufacturers Association (PERANTIM) member, made the pitch on Wednesday evening.

At the MATRADE-organised “Asia Health Industry Dialogue and Networking,” part of the just-concluded “Arab Health” at the Dubai World Trade Centre, and relative to Malaysia being the 2025 chairman of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while the three as well stressed that entry into Malaysia, for investments and expansions, provides an enormous opportunity for access into a nearly 700 million-populated region of boorish high-income and middle-income economies despite global multi-faceted challenges, they also encouraged the participation at the July 16 to 28, 2025 inaugural “International Healthcare Week” in Kuala Lumpur.

The educational/exhibition platform shall be an overview of the most recent developments in healthcare infrastructure and assets, among others, based on the respective experiences of ASEAN states. According to the Worldbox Business Intelligence portal, these are “expected to see stronger growth than in 2024 as inflation and interest rates decline worldwide.” With VietNam observed as the leader, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand, shall post between three per cent to 6.5 per cent growth rate.

These, as Malaysia’s healthcare market aligns with global expansion trends, projected to grow by 63 per cent from $575.6 billion in 2024 to $939 billion by 2032.
Arifin told Gulf Today that while analysts had valued global medical devices at an “astonishing” $695.61 billion in 2028 from $560.8 billion in 2024, sparked by persistent syndromes and diseases, the January 14, 2025 signing of the Malaysia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership, witnessed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, “provides us access to the world market.”

“We are also a partner-member of the BRICS which gives us another leverage,” he said, reverting back to what he had stated in his opening remarks that the country of 32 million, already breached into international medical tourism with two hospitals rated among the best, by industry reviewers. In 2022, alone, registered were 850,000 medical tourists that pumped in $1.3 billion healthcare revenues.

Interviewed, Haminuddin pointed out that PERANTIM is composed of 45 wholly-owned or 51 per cent-owned ISO13485 Medical Device Quality Management System- certified Malaysian companies with a regional market share of $2.3 billion. Comparatively with five of its neighbours, Malaysia leads. The demand for low to high-risk medical instruments for laboratory tests and analyses, and treatment of all health concerns, is at $1.9 billion in Thailand; $1.8 billion, VietNam; $1.4 billion, Indonesia; $800 million, Singapore; and $739 million, the Philippines.

Haminuddin said venture capitalists from the “Arab Health” alone, had already expressed interest to invest in Malaysian start-ups: “We are ready. We already have the talent pool of 54,000. We also want the world to know of the benefits when they consider Malaysia and Southeast Asia.”

Twelve years in government service and 12 years employed as industry R&D engineer with a university degree in Material Engineering, MATRADE’s Sharif spoke from experience. He was asked why it is beneficial to endow on Malaysia’s healthcare manufacturing sector.

He cited the indispensable robust ecosystem and human resources development support, particularly the harness of highly-proficient workforce through technology and vocational education and training. The “highly-regulated healthcare system,” benchmarked on international guidelines, consists of not only the medical/nursing plantilla; but, also those in the operations of laboratories and manufacturing facilities for the necessary implements.

Saying that investors are not only after locations and that “cheap labour is no longer needed” in that segment that requires incessant advancements in order to catch up with health trends, Sharif added that Malaysia it is because of the leadership vision and mission – “at least in the past 15 years” – to continually upgrade the education curricula, critical to the human resources’ adeptness in applying all theories learnt towards utmost patient care: “Like, in the injection moulding, how is this going to impact on the patient’s condition and of course on the product.”