Malaysia is seeking to overtake its neighbours Singapore and Thailand as the prime destination for medical and wellness tourism, appealing to less affluent international consumers, including visitors seeking spas.

The number of foreigners seeking care in Malaysia more than doubled over five years to 770,134 in 2013, according to in.reuters.com. Most of these patients are reportedly from Indonesia, followed by the Middle East and North Africa.

Malaysia is a new player in the wellness tourism market in comparison to Singapore – whose foreign patients numbered 850,000 in 2012 – and Thailand which attracted 2.5m medical tourists, although this figure includes spa stays and resident expatriates.

Spending by foreign patients in Singapore totalled US$216m in 2013, while Thailand’s sum total for medical tourism revenue was US$4.3 billion – again including spa stays, according to the website.

To compete with these leading markets, Malaysia is offering cheaper services with shorter recovery times. For example, the site mentions that a heart bypass in Malaysia costs US$20,000 – less than half the cost in Singapore and 10 per cent cheaper than in Thailand.

“The number of people coming in doesn’t necessarily translate into higher revenue,” said Suresh Ponnudurai, chief executive of private medical travel company Malaysia Healthcare. “Singapore and Thailand are targeting those who are really wealthy, whereas those who come to Malaysia aren’t as rich.”

At least three countries already have government-to-government agreements to send patients to Malaysia including Kazakhstan, Libya and Oman.

“The way to gain ground is to secure these accounts with government agencies since they are paying for the patients,” said Amiruddin Satar, managing director of KPJ Healthcare – one of three big Malaysian hospital groups which expects to see the share of its revenue from medical tourism jump to 25 per cent from last year’s four per cent by 2020.

Malaysia is also pursuing the Muslim market through halal treatments – excluding products forbidden under Islamic law such as those derived from pork. Insulin, for example comes in both porcine and bovine versions and the drug Dhamotil is a halal option for diarrhoea – an alternative to Imodium.