The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MTHC) celebrated excellence in medical travel journalism at the virtual Medical Travel Media Awards Presentation Ceremony 2021 (MTMA2021). Graced by Khairy Jamaluddin, the Minister of Health Malaysia, the annual awards event honoured local and international media for their contributions in positioning Malaysia as a safe and trusted destination for healthcare.
This year’s MTMA received 420 submissions, a 20% increase from 2020 with entries coming in from countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Malaysia.
“Despite the global challenges posed on the healthcare travel industry, we are delighted that MTMA continues to grow with greater prominence. It serves as a platform for us to honour media and influencers for their contributions and reward them for being Malaysia Healthcare brand advocates. Media played an important role as our frontliners during the pandemic and continues to play an integral role in our post-pandemic recovery of the healthcare travel industry, putting us back on track through excellent journalism and storytelling,” said Mohd Daud Mohd Arif, Chief Executive Officer of MHTC.
Over the past few years, influencers have also gained strong prominence as healthcare brand advocates, leveraging content and multi-platform reach to share their experiences with healthcare particularly in Malaysia. In recognition of this, MTMA2021 introduced a new award category – Best Medical Travel Influencer of the Year to encourage influencers, bloggers, and freelance journalists to participate in this international awards event.
| Award Category | Winner Name and Media House | Country |
| Best Print Medical Travel Report of the Year
(Malaysia and International) |
Stefan Pertz (Asian Buses) | Malaysia |
| Gabriele Bettinazzi
(Global Health Asia Pacific) |
Italy | |
| Best Online Medical Travel Report of the Year (Malaysia and International) | Chester Chin (The Star) | Malaysia |
| Matthew Brady (Omnia Health) | United Arab Emirates | |
| Best Broadcast Medical Travel Feature of the Year (Malaysia and International) | Berita RTM | Malaysia |
| Nomad Capitalist | Hong Kong | |
| Best Medical Travel Influencer of the Year (Malaysia and International) | Ainul Rhyshikin binti Yusoff | Malaysia |
| Katerina Susrianti | Indonesia | |
| Medical Travel Journalist of the Year (Malaysia and International) | Revathi Murugappan (The Star) | Malaysia |
| Gabriele Bettinazzi (Global Health Asia Pacific) | Italy | |
| Medical Travel Editorial Team of the Year (Malaysia and International) | BERNAMA | Malaysia |
| Daily Sun | Bangladesh |
All entries were assessed by an expert panel of regional judges against a comprehensive points-based scoring system. The judging criteria focused on five areas, namely the quality of research, quality of technique or presentation, creativity, content, and digital or social reach and shareability. The judging team was led by Head Judge, Manminder Dhillon, Chief Executive Officer of Supernewsroom. The other esteemed panel of judges was, Dr Izzal Asnira Zolkepli, Senior Lecturer of Universiti Sains Malaysia; Hanizah Hamzah, Head of Television of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union; Dr Kiranjit Kaur, Professor of Universiti Teknologi MARA; Shannon Teoh, Malaysia Bureau Chief of The Straits Times; Cristian Rahadiansyah, Editor-In-Chief of DestinAsian, Indonesia, and Haikel Fahim, Southeast Asia, Region Head of Telum Media.
This year’s MTMA was also made possible with the support of event sponsors, Epson Malaysia, Mahkota Medical Centre and Magicopper, as well as media network partners, Telum Media, Meltwater and Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.
Malaysia has become a leading destination for healthcare for its world-class quality, easily accessible, and competitively affordable healthcare offerings. The healthcare travel industry is currently in the rebuilding phase, with Malaysia gaining its reputation as a safe and trusted destination for healthcare. MHTC recently launched the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021-2025, charting the course towards a collaborative effort towards offering the Best Malaysia Healthcare Travel experience by 2025.
