Halal Medical Tourism: Emerging Opportunities

Islam is not just a religion but a way of life. Searching for halal (lawful) and avoiding haram (prohibited) is obligatory upon every Muslim. The obligation does not only limit to consumption of halal food and beverages, but almost in every aspect of daily life such as halal pharmaceutical, halal cosmetic, Shariah compliant outfit, Shariah compliant Islamic finance and products, and it also extended to finding Shariah compliant or halal medical and services. This is in line with the goals or objectives of Shariah (maqāṣid al-sharīʿa), which defined by Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi as “the attainment of good, welfare, advantage, benefits and warding off evil, injury, loss of the creatures”. According to al-Shatibi, the legal ends of Islamic law “are the benefits intended by the law. Muslims live guided by the Shari’ah (an Islamic law) that derived primarily from the Holy book of the Quran and the Sunnah (life, actions, teachings, and sayings) of the prophet Muhammad (SAW) which recorded in the books of Hadith that included the traditions that emphasizes the prophetic tradition of Islam and the sanctions of Muslim jurists who represents the Muslim community. Halal tourism is related to traveling that has been encouraged by Allah SWT in the Quran to learn through experiences to improve knowledge. Halal medical tourism on the other hand, refers to the environment, core values, ways of operations and environment in the hospital industry that are in line with Islamic principles, and suitable for Muslim patients. The main purpose of this paper is to raise awareness about the growing Halal medical tourism market segment and identify the fundamental needs of this segment. What is Halal medical tourism? What are the sources that inform about Halal medical tourism? What is the potential of Halal medical tourism? How does one attract this potential segment? These are some of the questions to which a response is provided in the paper. The methodology is largely reliant on secondary information. The paper also makes some recommendations which have implications for the practitioners and service providers.