"Under the healthcare NKEA, the government is targeting to welcome one million health travellers to Malaysia and conduct 1,000 clinical trials," he said at the launch of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and CAT scan (CT Scan) units at a private hospital in Bayu Perdana.
Besides that, he said, the government aimed to beef up the local pharmaceutical industry and medical technology sector.
"The market value for pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs in Malaysia is over RM400 billion a year and there is a significant opportunity for Malaysia to manufacture more medicines locally.
"Such an opportunity means more bio-chemists and microbiologists to be employed by the industry apart from doctors and nurses.
"Malaysia has a comparative advantage in healthcare tourism as the treatment provided by private hospitals here is of good quality and at a reasonable cost."
Dr Subramaniam said the government might be looking at the visa requirement regulations to attract more travellers to Malaysia for medical treatment.
"Some of the private hospitals in Melaka, Penang and Johor are favoured by Indonesians seeking treatment."
Dr Subramaniam said the active development of the healthcare industry was also in line with the government's aspiration to make Malaysia a high-income economy.
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