Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng wants to make Penang a medical city with excellent hospitals, highly trained doctors and very affordable care.

Lim said the state government would bring in an investment as big as RM1 billion that include foreign and local investment to enhance health care facilities in the state.

He said medical tourism in the country is booming as Malaysia is ranked as the top country in the world for healthcare by InternationalLiving.com.

"The rank is higher than the US and Canada. Hence, we will work hard to make Penang a medical city, and to reinforce its position as number one.

"For this purpose, we are having discussions with Southeast Healthcare provider, who are interested in putting in a one billion ringgit investment to expand hospital care and healthcare industry," he told a press conference at Komtar here, Wednesday.

He hoped that the investment will be a success and everything is still in the discussion phase right now.

"Any positive news after the discussion will be revealed to the public," he said. -- Bernama