Temuramah bersama TROPICANA MEDICAL CENTRE

Berikut adalah temuramah ringkas bersama pegawai TROPICANA MEDICAL CENTRE, salah satu tempat yang mengambil bahagian di dalam program My Selangor Story. Pengalaman yang dilalui boleh dibaca DI SINI.

How do Tropicana position itself as a growing medical centre in Malaysia?
 We opened our doors in December 2008. Almost 2 years down the road, we still remain one of the newest multidisciplinary medical centres in Klang Valley. Whilst the hospital has grown from strength to strength in the past two years, it has not been a walk in the park. In order to compete and be at the same level as other reputable medical centres in Klang Valley, we have developed our strengths through the following

•    Advanced medical  technology and sophisticated medical facilties
•    Highly skilled medical professional who provides highly niche and unique subspecialties
•    Friendly, compassionate and dedicated medical and non medical staff
•    Warm, relaxing and beautiful hospital ambience.

Nevertheless we believe that being new is not a disadvantage. In any case, it is a great advantage given the fact that we are able to invest in the latest and most advanced medical technology. Our 32 Channel 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine for example is the first in Asia with the ability to conduct comprehensive screening of the heart. In addition we are also one of the few centres in the country to have a bi-plane catheterisation laboratory. Most medical centres are only operating with a single plane catheterisation laboratory. We also have 11 individual fertility laboratories. These are considered the biggest and most advanced in South East Asia. In addition, we are also moving towards image-guided and minimally invasive surgery which is less painful and allows patients to heal faster. Advancements in medical technology have allowed for earlier detection and intervention of diseases and this subsequently has improved patient’s quality of life. We are very proud to be at the forefront of this aspect.

How do Tropicana work itself to be part of the "medical tourism"industry which should attract many people from outside of Malaysia?
We have positioned ourselves as a one-stop tertiary healthcare service provider that specializes in most sought after specialties such as Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Cardiology, ENT surgery, Gastroenterology, and many more. We have also put in place standard treatment prices for locals and foreigners. Apart from this, TMC is geared up to place numerous representative offices and international patient assistance centres throughout certain countries which have large number of patients coming to TMC. We are also actively promoting the hospital via roadshows, exhibitions and trade missions organized on our own or with the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) or Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM)

What are among the specialties in Tropicana? Niche areas?
Our specialists are highly experienced medical professionals who have received their medical training locally and abroad. For example, we are one of the few centres in Klang Valley with specialists who can perform the following

•    Fertility specialists who offer more than just In Vitro Fertilisation. We are the first and only fertility centre in Malaysia that can offer In Vitro Maturation (a fertility procedure which requires less medication and yet still produces high success rates) and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) which allows the screening of embryos for abnormalities and possible genetic diseases.
•    Paediatric cardiologist (child heart specialist) who can perform surgery on congenital heart disease
•    Cardiothoracic surgeon who can perform off-pump or beating heart surgery
•    Orthopaedic surgeons who can perfrom hip resurfacing arthroplasty a procedure which is better than conventional hip replacement surgery as hip resurfacing allows patients better mobility and flexibility in their hips and lower limb areas
•    One of Malaysia’s pioneer consultants in the field of Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) laser surgery
•    General surgeon who is able to perform treatment for breast cancer through removing just the affected lymph nodes without the patient having to go through a mastectomy where the entire breast is removed.

It is common understanding to Malaysian that private medical centres are expensive and cannot cater for the majority of the population. What is your comments?
We do not blame Malaysians for arriving at that conclusion because it is a well known fact that we have a good public healthcare sector that is heavily subsidized by the government. Patients hardly pay anything for medical services. Therefore, even when they have to fork out even a reasonable sum of money, many would deem it expensive as compared to going to a public hospital.

However I believe that this perception is fast changing. Whilst the medical services in public hospitals can be good, patients have to go through longer waiting time and may even be on a long waiting list for certain procedures. Therefore more and more people are starting to realise that they do not mind paying a bit more for the comfort and convenience that private healthcare providers offer. Furthermore, our society is becoming better educated and more informed on the importance of taking care of their health. Many are opting to get themselves insured. And by doing so, they are able to enjoy the high quality medical services in comfort and convenience without having to burn a hole in their pockets.

How does bloggers come into the picture?
For a start, bloggers are able to provide education on certain health concerns such as the recent H1N1 flu pandemic, gathering vital information to be informed to their valued blog followers. Blogging is also recognized as one of the fastest way to gain news momentum to reach the I.T savvy world population and the possibilities for this to happen is endless, what with all the networking sites established such as Facebook and Twitter. Bloggers can also carry out effective surveys to their readers on topics of interest for upcoming healthtalks or medical articles which they would want to know about. Overall, we feel that the marketing and branding value of a blogger represents a big part of the online hype which Tropicana wants to explore.

Kind regards

HAZRINA ZAINUL AZIZDIN
Marketing & Community Relations
Tropicana Medical Centre
http://www.tropicanamedicalcentre.com/