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Penang’s medical tourism industry in good shape as Indonesian patients flock there

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Island Hospital is one of several private medical centres in Penang that medical tourists make a beeline for.

Island Hospital is one of several private medical centres in Penang that medical tourists make a beeline for.

PHOTO: IHH HEALTHCARE

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Upon touchdown at Penang International Airport, an elderly Indonesian man and his 36-year-old daughter make their way, as per usual, through the snaking immigration clearance queues. They collect their baggage and are greeted by the familiar sight of minivans waiting to take them to their Georgetown hotel.

Trips to Penang from Jakarta are routine for the 75-year-old, who has made the six-hour door-to-door journey at least twice a year for almost two decades.

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