The global healthcare market is estimated to hit US$1.4 trillion by 2023. Against the back of this, the exchange of medical information is vital to improving healthcare quality, safety, and patient outcomes. In order to encourage networking between Taiwan’s and Malaysia’s medical community, the Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) held the “Taiwan and Malaysia, Joining Hands in Bringing Greater Health to Life” online panel discussion on 19 November.

Babs Chang, Deputy Director of TAITRA, noted that the current pandemic has placed greater emphasis and urgency on healthcare, and businesses should be a step ahead to grab the opportunity in the medical industry.

Yong Tuan Heng, President of Malaysian Medical Devices Association (MMDA), was able to join the event in Malaysia, across the ocean. In his speech, Yong mentioned that similar to the rest of the world, Malaysia has suffered a huge economic impact due to pandemic. He applauded TAITRA for their efforts in connecting Malaysian and Taiwanese industry players virtually, providing them with a platform to share the latest medical technology and smart healthcare with each other.

Read: Taiwan-Malaysia cooperation: bridging the gap for medical professionals

The virtual event focused on two main themes: “Medical Service” and “Smart Medical”. During the event, six prominent hospitals and three advanced smart healthcare companies came together to share the latest disease treatment technology and smart medical technology

Leading the way to better healthcare

The International Medical Service online panel session was led by Vice Superintendent of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Dr Jacob Feng. He mentioned that, Chang Gung, being one of the world’s largest medical systems and has establish two proton therapy centre in Southeast Asia, welcomes exchanges with Malaysia in various aspects of medical and health science.

Cheng Hsin General Hospital is well-known for its heart transplant operations. Superintendent Dr. Jeng Wei, who has performed over 10,000 of surgeries, said that, he had successfully completed heart transplantation as early as 1988, and he has also assisted Vietnam in their first successful heart transplant operation. In addition, Taiwan’s survival rate of catheterised heart valve replacement TAVR surgery is the highest worldwide, up to 98%. Dr. Wei also mentioned that he has hopes that they can work together with Malaysia on technologies such as cardiovascular heart transplantation in the future.

Director Harriet Shen of the Buddist Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital talked about how the hospital uses immunomodulation therapy to treat vitiligo. Representative of National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Eva Chen, stated that the hospital has long-term cooperation programs with medical institutes around the world, and also welcomed medical and health collaborations with relevant companies in Malaysia. On the other hand, Taipei Medical University’s Director Chang emphasised that the medical university serves up to 10,000 international patients every year and also recommended Taiwan as a premier hub for medical aesthetic services.

Advancing the boundaries of ehealth

The Smart Medical panel discussion was hosted by CEO Dr Nina Kao of Changhua Christian Hospital. She highlighted that the hospitalnot only has a high success rate of up to 50% in reproductive medicine, it is also Taiwan’s first hospital to utilise IT smart operation systems to turn it into a smart hospital. One of Changhua’s partner is Imedtac. Manager Beren Hsieh shared about how it has started using IT to build comprehensive smart hospitals system – from smart nurse station to even fall prevention solution – in Taiwan. It currently also has a cooperation in Vietnam and other countries.

The discussion was also joined by Biotegy Corporation, a professional in minimally invasive surgery and an expert in the research and development of high-end medical equipment. Founder Professor Fang mentioned that Biotegy specialises in the rapid development of high-end new innovative products and can work with Malaysian companies to develop new business models and improve market competitiveness. Additionally, TaiHao Medical is committed to becoming a provider of world-class medical image processing equipment solutions and products. Manager Julia Chang introduced the advanced diagnostic system developed by Taihao, hoping to assist doctors in early detection of tumours so that early treatment can be done.

During the webinar, Malaysian industry players also put forward discussions on topics such as proton therapy for cancer, the experience of receiving medical treatment in Taiwan during the pandemic, and potential cooperation in the development of a smart medical system. TAITRA also assisted in the arrangement of post-event business matching sessions for interested parties.

Babs Chang also stated that TAITRA has been promoting Taiwan’s international trade and health industry for a long time, and has continued to do so through various online activities and platforms to connect Taiwan to the world. This event aims to promote joint opportunities between medical practitioners of both places to provide better disease treatment and healthcare solutions, especially now amidst the pandemic. This is the best opportunity for Taiwan and Malaysia to join hands to develop business opportunities in the healthcare industry.

To find out more, watch the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BlW0Pct_jw&feature=youtu.be

Besides that, you can also discover more about Taiwan’s medical industry at the Health Care Pavilion during Taiwan Expo in Malaysia Online from 25-27 November.