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BUSINESS REVIEW
Medical Tourism
103
We continue to invest in new medical
equipment and facilities featuring the
latest technologies. These are ensuring
a more pleasant patient experience and
better medical and surgical outcomes. To
ensure patient convenience, we continue
to enhance the capabilities of our web
portal. Today, all existing and potential
KPJ patients can readily elect the type of
medical attention they need, select the
doctor they want, as well schedule their
own appointments.
Gearing Up for Growth
The domestic private healthcare industry
is expected to register healthy demand
growth of between 8% and 10% per
annum on the back of growing awareness
of healthcare standards and an overloaded
public
healthcare
system.
These
developments augur well for KPJ and we
are putting the necessary building blocks
in place to tap the potential of this lucrative
market segment.
To prepare for the expected growth in
medical tourism business, KPJ will invest
some RM760 million over the next three
to four years to develop five new hospitals
in Malaysia. These five projects will
collectively add 822 beds to KPJ’s existing
capacity of more than 2,500 beds, and are
expected to create over 3,000 new jobs
and contribute an estimated RM1.2 billion
in GNI for the country.
To date, the largest contributors to the
Group’s medical tourism business are the
KPJ Johor Specialist and KPJ Ampang
Puteri Specialist hospitals because of their
proximity to foreign communities (apart
from the availability of more specialised
medical treatments). The new flagship
390-bed hospital in Bandar Dato’ Onn
which is targeted to open by end-2014
will offer oncology, women and children,
cosmetics and reconstruction, orthopaedic,
cardiology and geriatrics services at
competitive prices to cater to the more
price-sensitive foreign community from
Singapore.
Annual Report
2012
KPJ Healthcare Berhad
Honorable Federal Minister of Industry Bangladesh (second from left) with Dato’ Jamaluddin Sabeh, High Commissioner of High Commission Malaysia (third from left) visiting
KPJ booth at Malaysia Trade Show Exhibition in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Group’s acquisition of a 23.4%
stake in the 263-bed Vejthani Hospital in
Thailand is another strategic move to grow
the medical tourism business. Not only has
the acquisition given us a foothold into the
Thai healthcare market, given Vejthani’s
strong presence in the medical tourism
segment, it will enable KPJ to extract
value from the acquisition through mutual
patient referrals. Over the longer-term, we
will attempt to replicate Vejthani’s proven
medical tourism strategy in Malaysia.
Going forward, KPJ will continue to allocate
the necessary resources to make the most
of this “hidden jewel” in the healthcare
sector as well as chart a sustainable
pathway to growth.