On Monday (August 17), the state government of Penang in northern Malaysia has banned overseas medical tourists seeking treatment from entering into the state until new health and safety procedures are finalized based on the coronavirus crisis.

The Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has made the announcement and said in his statement, “The state government takes note that the Ministry of Health (MOH) will finalize the SOP on the health tourism sector, and the state government wishes to state that it will not allow the entry of patients under this category until MOH finalizes the new SOP, especially at this time when Penang is still reporting active Covid-19 cases.”

He also expressed regret that the patients were not notified of the ‘sudden’ arrival by the state government. Last Friday (August 14), 3 Indonesian patients arrived at the state by special flights for their treatment at the private hospitals.

From those 3 Indonesian patients, 2 are cancer patients and 1 needed immediate treatment. The state did not disclose whether the three tested positive for the virus or not. But Penang authorities were told that the patient had followed all standard operating procedures.

The decision of ban on entering of medical tourists was made in an emergency meeting held by the Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow with the Penang state secretary, the Penang state executive councilor in charge of tourism, the Penang state health department director and the Penang director in charge of state security from the National Security Council (NSC).

The digital platform AirAsia.com of the budget airline Air Asia Group Bhd said that it flew its first medical charter flight from the Indonesian city of Medan to Penang on last Friday. The carrier further informed that another charter flight from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur is scheduled for next Monday.

Penang recently recorded new cases of COVID-19. The northern state had confirmed 6 new cases of local transmission in the past 14 days as of August 17. All Penang districts are now “yellow”, except Seberang Perai Selatan which is still “green” with zero new local cases. The “yellow” status indicates 40 or fewer new local coronavirus cases.