Newsweek Ranks World's Best Medical Tourism Hospitals
The inaugural ranking covers 295 hospitals and clinics across 13 countries, with seven Southeast Asian facilities included.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Healthcare
Live Poll
Would you trust a hospital ranking when choosing surgery abroad?
Newsweek and data provider Statista released the inaugural World's Best Hospitals & Clinics for Medical Tourism ranking. The list includes 295 facilities in 13 countries, with seven hospitals from Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Why it matters
The ranking gives international patients a comparative reference for hospitals serving medical tourists across nine specialties and procedures. It draws on more than 25,000 assessed institutions worldwide, offering a benchmark in a market where quality and accreditation vary widely.
The ranking is built from recommendations, accreditations, patient reviews, and Statista's facility survey, with five airplane symbols marking the top tier of at least the 80th percentile. The extraction does not indicate how the selected 295 facilities compare with the broader pool of more than 25,000 institutions beyond that cutoff.
The players
Newsweek
Newsweek is a long-running American news and current affairs magazine and website that publishes rankings and special reports.
Statista
Statista is a German-founded statistics portal and data provider that compiles market and industry research used by media and businesses.
The details
Gleneagles Hospital in Penang received five airplane symbols for orthopedics, and Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur received five for cardiac care and surgery. Other listed facilities include KPJ Damansara Specialist Hospital, BPK 9 International Hospital, Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital, and Mount Elizabeth Hospital - Novena.
Timeline
Newsweek and Statista published the inaugural ranking on November 7, 2026.
Industry Context
Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand have built internationally marketed private hospital sectors that attract cross-border patients, and this inaugural ranking adds a standardized comparison across that regional market. The seven Southeast Asian facilities on the list place the region prominently within a global assessment of more than 25,000 institutions.
Patients considering treatment abroad can use the ranking's specialty-specific airplane ratings to compare facilities in orthopedics, cardiac care, bariatric surgery, liposuction, and ophthalmology. The ratings reflect recommendations and accreditations, so verifying a specific hospital's current credentials before booking remains a practical step.
The takeaway
The ranking gives prospective medical tourists a standardized starting point for comparing hospitals across several specialties and countries. Verifying each facility's accreditations and specialty-specific ratings before travel remains essential.
Further reading
For more on how hospital systems are evaluated and funded, see the Healthcare section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by VnExpress International – Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam.
Live Poll
Would you trust a hospital ranking when choosing surgery abroad?
