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Introduction <p>With increasing global travel, pre-travel care is essential for safe travel. This study aimed to describe pre-travel health advice and medical services offered by general practitioners (GPs) in Malaysia.</p> Methodology <p>This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted among private GPs in Malaysia. Private clinics were initially randomly selected from the Ministry of Health registry in proportion to state distribution. However, the final sample consisted of self-selected respondents who voluntarily completed the survey, and this may introduce selection bias. Data were collected via self-administered online questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, Fisher’s Exact, ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis tests.</p> Results <p>131 GPs responded (response rate: 20.89%). Over two-thirds (67.9%) reported providing pre-travel health advice and related medical services. Among these, chronic disease monitoring was most commonly reported as ‘always’ (45.8%), while mental health screening was most commonly reported as ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ (30.5%). Advice on immunisation was most commonly reported as ‘always’ (55.7%). A statistically significant association was observed between having formal training in travel medicine and provision of pre-travel medical services and advice (p = 0.030). Lack of training was the greatest challenge (37.4%). While only 7.6% of GPs had received formal training in travel medicine, a majority (82.4%) expressed interest in future training opportunities.</p> Conclusion <p>This exploratory survey suggests that many responding private GPs in Malaysia provide pre-travel advice and selected travel-related services, but formal training in travel medicine is uncommon. Larger and more representative studies are needed to confirm these findings and inform training and service development.</p>

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Pre-travel health advice and medical services provided by private general practitioners in Malaysia

  • 期刊论文

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月17日

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  • Pei Kuan Lai,
  • Gerard T. Flaherty,
  • Chandrashekhar T. Sreeramareddy,
  • Lokman Hakim Sulaiman

摘要

Introduction

With increasing global travel, pre-travel care is essential for safe travel. This study aimed to describe pre-travel health advice and medical services offered by general practitioners (GPs) in Malaysia.

Methodology

This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted among private GPs in Malaysia. Private clinics were initially randomly selected from the Ministry of Health registry in proportion to state distribution. However, the final sample consisted of self-selected respondents who voluntarily completed the survey, and this may introduce selection bias. Data were collected via self-administered online questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, Fisher’s Exact, ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis tests.

Results

131 GPs responded (response rate: 20.89%). Over two-thirds (67.9%) reported providing pre-travel health advice and related medical services. Among these, chronic disease monitoring was most commonly reported as ‘always’ (45.8%), while mental health screening was most commonly reported as ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ (30.5%). Advice on immunisation was most commonly reported as ‘always’ (55.7%). A statistically significant association was observed between having formal training in travel medicine and provision of pre-travel medical services and advice (p = 0.030). Lack of training was the greatest challenge (37.4%). While only 7.6% of GPs had received formal training in travel medicine, a majority (82.4%) expressed interest in future training opportunities.

Conclusion

This exploratory survey suggests that many responding private GPs in Malaysia provide pre-travel advice and selected travel-related services, but formal training in travel medicine is uncommon. Larger and more representative studies are needed to confirm these findings and inform training and service development.