KUALA LUMPUR – 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 the Honourable 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 delightful 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 freelancer journalists to participate in this international awards event.
Best Print Medical Travel Report of the Year goes to Stefan Pertz from Asian Buses Malaysia and Gabriele Bettinazzi from
Global Health Asia Pacific Italy.
Best Online Medical Travel Report of the Year goes to Chester Chin from The Star Malaysia and Matthew Brady from Omnia Health United Arab Emirates.
Best Broadcast Medical Travel Feature of the Year goes to Berita RTM Malaysia and Nomad Capitalist Hongkong.
Best Medical Travel Influencer of the Year goes to Ainul Rhyshikin binti Yusoff from Malaysia and Katerina Susrianti from Indonesia.
Medical Travel Journalist of the Year goes to Revathi Murugappan from The Star and Gabriele Bettinazzi from Global Health Asia Pacific Italy.
Medical Travel Editorial Team of the Year goes to Bernama from Malaysia and Daily Sun from Bangladesh.
The judging team was led by Head Judge, Manminder Dhillon, Chief Executive Officer of Supernewsroom. The other esteemed panel of judges were, 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.
