South-east Asia seen as medical tourism's "sweet spot"

Kuala Lumpur

THE lines snaking into Bangladesh's overwhelmed hospitals are often so long, says Nusrat Hussein Kiwan, that they extend into the street outside - too many patients seeking too few quality doctors. So, through a Google search, the wife of a Bangladeshi construction executive chose a Malaysian hospital for her heart bypass surgery.

"It's peaceful here, and my doctors are good," Ms Kiwan, 65, said during a post-op check-up at a Kuala Lumpur private hospital, looking full of life in an orange headscarf and sparkling gold bracelets. "I didn't expect to be as good as before. But I'm better."

Ms Kiwan spent US$20,000 on the procedure earlier this year, joining a bo…