Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Salam sejahtera and salam Malaysia Madani

INTRODUCTION
Ladies and gentlemen,

1. Every generation faces a different healthcare challenge. Forone generation, the priority was building hospitals and expanding access. For another, it was strengthening our medical workforce and improving the quality of care.

Today, we are entering a new era.

2. The future of healthcare now will not be shaped in hospitals alone. It will also be shaped in our laboratories, universities, engineering centres and factories, and increasingly through artificial intelligence, robotics and digital technology.

3. Countries that master these technologies will not only build stronger healthcare systems. They will create higher-value industries, better jobs and capabilities that the world will depend upon. Medical technology is therefore not simply part
of healthcare – to me it is a strategic national industry.

4. For Malaysia, the question is clear: do we remain a place where the world comes to manufacture medical devices, or do we take the next leap and become a country that creates medical technology for the world?

If you ask me – we must do both.

5. We must remain a trusted global manufacturing base, while building our own companies, technologies and talent to compete globally.

MALAYSIA IS READY FOR THE NEXT LEAP
Ladies and gentlemen,

6. We are not starting from zero. In 2025 alone, Malaysia exported RM34.54 billion worth of medical devices. In the same year, RM4 billion in new medical-device investments were approved across 46 projects, creating close to 3,400 employment opportunities.

7. The global medical-device industry was valued at more than USD572 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed USD1 trillion by 2034. So the question is not whether this industry will grow. It definitely will.

8. The more important question is how much of that growth Malaysia will capture, andnhow much of that value will truly belong to Malaysia.

9. We should not measure progress only by factories opened or investment approved. We must also ask how much technology and intellectual property are created here, how many Malaysian companies become global players and how many Malaysians occupy the highest-skilled jobs.

Capital may enter Malaysia, but capability must remain in Malaysia.

TRUST AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Ladies and gentlemen,

10. As Malaysia moves into more advanced and higher-value medical technology, one thing becomes even more important which is trust. In this industry, trust is fundamental.

11. Every device must be safe. Every technology must be reliable. And every Malaysian product that enters the global market carries with it the reputation of our country.

12. This is why regulation matters. I can see that through the Medical Device Authority, Malaysia is already playing an active role in international regulatory harmonisation, including through our leadership in the Global Harmonization Working Party.

13. This gives Malaysia an opportunity not only to adopt global standards, but increasingly to contribute to how those standards are shaped.

14. At the same time, regulation must keep pace with innovation. As medical devices become increasingly integrated with emerging technologies – we must protect patients without slowing responsible innovation.

15. If Malaysia can combine world-class manufacturing, technological capability and internationally respected regulation, we can offer the world something powerful: a complete MedTech ecosystem.

THREE AMBITIONS FOR MEDTECH MALAYSIA 2030
Ladies and gentlemen,

16. But ambition must eventually be translated into results. If we want to know whether Malaysia has truly moved forward by 2030, we need clear outcomes against which we can measure ourselves. Therefore, today I want to put forward three ambitions for Malaysia’s MedTech industry towards 2030.

17. First, Malaysia should aim to surpass RM50 billion in medical-device exports by 2030. We are already at RM34.54 billion. We have the manufacturing base, market access and global confidence. But the next phase of export growth must increasingly come from higher-value products.

18. Second, I want us to work towards building at least 10 Malaysian MedTech champions capable of competing regionally and globally. We will continue welcoming the world’s leading MedTech companies, while deliberately growing Malaysian firm that develop technology, own intellectual property and compete internationally.

19. Third, by 2030, we should aim for at least 50 per cent of jobs created by new MedTech investments to be managerial, technical and supervisory positions. In 2025, the MTS index for the medical-device sector stood at 33.1 per cent. If we are serious about calling this a high-value industry, then the jobs it creates must increasingly be high-value jobs as well.

20. These three ambitions represent the transformation we want: from manufacturing to innovation, from participation to ownership, and from job creation to high-value careers.

BUILD THE TALENT BEFORE THE INVESTMENT ARRIVES

21. This brings me to an issue I have consistently emphasised as Chairman of the National TVET Council. We cannot wait for investment to arrive before asking where the talent will come from. The talent must be ready before the investment
arrives.

22. That is why the MedTech industry must work much closer with our universities and TVET institutions. Do not come to us only when you need workers. Come earlier. Help shape programmes, identify future skills, provide industrial exposure
and open more apprenticeship pathways.

23. Industry should not merely recruit the talent we produce. Industry must help us produce the talent it needs.

24. The same principle applies to innovation. We need a clearer pathway from research to market. IMDEC should help connect our ideas, innovators and companies with the partners they need to grow and compete globally. The real strength of an ecosystem is not how many institutions exist within it. It is how effectively they work together.

TECHNOLOGY MUST REACH THE PEOPLE
Ladies and gentlemen,

25. Amid all our discussion about investment, exports and global markets, we must never lose sight of the most important stakeholder of all: the patient. As Minister responsible for rural and regional development, I also see this through the
lens of access. For families in rural and remote communities, distance can still determine the healthcare they receive.

26. This is where technology becomes more than innovation. It becomes inclusion. A portable diagnostic device, a digital platform connecting a rural patient with a distant specialist, or technology that detects illness earlier are not merely technological achievements. They change lives.

27. Our MedTech ambition must therefore serve both sides of the same national objective: create economic value for Malaysia, and create human value for Malaysians.

CLOSING
Ladies and gentlemen,

28. IMDEC 2026 will conclude today, but the work must begin from here. I would like the Medical Device Authority, together with the Ministry of Health and relevant ministries, agencies, industry and research community, to take these three ambitions forward and translate them into an actionable pathway towards 2030.

29. Let IMDEC 2026 be remembered not merely as another successful conference. Let it be remembered as the point where Malaysia decided to raise its ambition. Malaysia has the foundation. We have the ecosystem. We have the talent. We have the trust. What we need now is the ambition to take the next leap.

30. Ultimately, every investment, every innovation and every technology in this industry must return to one purpose: to protect life, improve life and give people the opportunity to live better lives.
That is the future we should build. And Malaysia must be ready to lead it.

Thank you.
Wabillahi taufiq walhidayah,
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.