The Relationship Between Push and Pull Factors and Intention To Visit Muslim-Friendly Hospitals For Medical Tourism Among Malaysian Muslim Consumers

Muslim-friendly medical tourism holds great potential in assisting with the post-covid efforts for the country. As of current literature, there is no prior research on what drives Malaysian Muslim consumers to visit Muslim-friendly hospitals. This study proposed the effects of push and pull factors on the intention to visit Muslim-friendly hospitals for medical tourism. A structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to 400 respondents who were sampled through multistage random sampling throughout the five zones in Malaysia;North Zone, East Zone, West Zone, South Zone, and Borneo Zone. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse the data in order to examine the relationship between the push factors (religiosity and novelty-seeking), pull factors (Islamic attributes of hospitals) and the intention to visit Muslim-friendly hospitals for medical tourism. The result of the analysis indicated that religiosity and Islamic hospital attributes are the main push and pull factors that respectively predict the consumer’s intention to visit Muslim-friendly hospitals for medical tourism. Novelty-seeking, however, was found to not be able to predict the intention. This study can serve as a framework to enhance Malaysia’s Muslim-friendly hospitals to cater to medical tourists, both locally and internationally. The findings of this research can also contribute to the government and industry players in their post-COVID efforts to revive the local medical tourism industry and subsequently boost the Malaysian economy. © 2022, Malaysian Consumer and Family Economics Association. All rights reserved.

Baseline assessment of heavy metal pollution during COVID-19 near river mouth of Kerian River, Malaysia

River water quality is a serious concern among scientist and government agencies due to increasing anthropogenic activities and uncontrolled industrial discharge to rivers. The present study was conducted near the river mouth of the Kerian River to assess heavy metal pollution during COVID-19 pandemic-lockdown conditions and post-COVID-19 pandemic-unlock conditions. Twelve samples of shallow, middle, and bottom depths were collected at four locations along a 9.6 km reach. A concentration of eight heavy metals including Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Nickel, Lead, and Zinc were extracted through atomic absorption spectrometry. Total suspended solid was measured during laboratory experimentation. The results showed that, during the pandemic, concentrations of Nickel, Zinc, and Iron were high at shallow, middle, and bottom depths, respectively. Decreasing orders of heavy metal concentration are variable at different depths due to either their high sinking tendency with other existing components of water matrix or the anthropogenic source. However, almost all values of heavy metals are under the permissible limit of National Water Quality Standards of Malaysia and Food and Drug Administration. A possible reason for the lack of heavy metal pollution may be the restriction of anthropogenic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, no significant differences were observed in total suspended solid.