Business Development Asia LLC

South East Asian Health News

ISSUE 2, AUGUST 1997



SINGAPORE



HMI Balestier Hospital has entered into a healthcare alliance with Massachusetts General Hospital and plans to list on the SET in 1999 or 2000 to raise funds for regional expansion. HMI group Vice-Chairman Gan See Khem expects income from regional projects to nearly triple the group's sales and profit by 2000. HMI will set up hospitals, medical centers, nurse training colleges and diagnostic laboratories in Malaysia, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and India. The company has stakes in two upcoming projects: 30% in a 350-bed hospital in Johor, and 40% in a 150-bed hospital in Beijing. HMI is also working on projects to set up more hospitals in Malaysia and China. (July 3rd, 1997)


Singapore's investment in healthcare projects in China:
Source: BDA research, The Business Times (Singapore), August 6, 1997


Inchcape Healthcare, a division of listed Inchcape Bhd, has clinched the rights to market and distribute Dental Aide, a new software to support managed healthcare schemes for dental services in the ASEAN region. The software comes from US-based Strategic Informatics Resources Corp. The alliance is expected to boost Inchcape Healthcare's market leadership in the dental health business in Singapore and improve its revenue by 2-3%. Dental Aide helps dentists track patients' medical history and manage accounts. It can also store and display images taken by an intra-oral camera or an X-ray facility. Inchcape will introduce the software to Indonesia, Brunei, Hongkong and Bangkok this year. (July 8th, 1997)

Parkway Holdings Ltd, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Parkway Group Healthcare Pte Ltd, has increased its shareholding in Gleneagles Hospital Ltd to 100% from 98.72% previously. (July 1st, 1997)

Raffles Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Pte Ltd, a JV between Raffles Medical and Kaiser Permanente International of the US, launched a new healthcare information system on the Internet called HealthDirect. Loo Choon Yong, Chairman of RKPH, said at the launch that "HealthDirect will address the needs of patients to have access to medical infomation so they can make educated and informed decisions together with their doctors". HealthDirect will charge access fees, but RKPH officials have not revealed how much. This new service is the first IT project to be supported by the EDB under the Innovation Development Scheme. (July 1st, 1997)

Sembawang Corporation has made a preliminary agreement with Vista Healthcare to set up a regional healthcare venture capital fund in Singapore. Sembcorp and Vista are currently exploring several potential healthcare investments. Vista alone is considering various projects in the region, including a stake in a major hospital in Thailand and developing hospitals in the Philippines and Indonesia. Vista, which was founded in August 1996 as a JV between Chase Capital Partners and four former Mount Elizabeth Hospital senior executives, was set up to own and manage healthcare facilities in the region. (July 25th, 1997)

Singapore Technologies group is in talks to buy a majority stake in healthcare group Beng & Ooi as part of a plan to become a regional healthcare player. Beng & Ooi has a chain of 16 medical clinics and a health screening centre in Singapore. It also has clinics in Batam, Bintam, and Karimun in Indonesia's Riau Islands, as well as a medical centre and hospital projects in China. The group had turnover of over US$10m in 1995. (August 8th, 1997)

Recent News:

Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Regional
Focus:

Thailand: A growing private health sector

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