KUALA LUMPUR: Community-focused healthcare provider, Columbia Asia
Sdn Bhd, has a strong foothold in Malaysia, with a revenue contribution of 67%
to its regional operations.
Last year, it obtained RM300mil in revenue from operations around the
region, of which RM200mil was derived from the nine hospitals in Malaysia.
Yesterday, Columbia Asia launched its 10th hospital, in Setapak, Kuala
Lumpur.
Headquartered in Malaysia, the group has 13 hospitals around the region
and eight in India.
The hospital group is 30%-owned by the Employees Provident Fund with
the remainder held by International Columbia USA LLC, a US-based fund made up
of 150 individual and institutional investors.
CEO for the South-East Asian region, Kelvin Tan, said the group was in
the midst of getting approvals for a new hospital in Petaling Jaya while its
expansion into Sitiawan, Perak was on hold as it was still looking for
qualified doctors to be stationed there.
The Petaling Jaya hospital is expected to be up and running by the end
of 2013.
In terms of growth, Tan said the hospitals in Malaysia had a 40% growth
in top-line revenue compared with the revenue achieved this February to a year
ago.
He did not provide any specific figures.
Tan added that the mature hospitals were expected to have a 20% organic
growth annually.
As for setting up the hospitals, Tan said: “Our basic structure,
depending on the cost of land, takes about RM68mil to RM70mil to build.”
All Columbia Asia Hospitals run on a community hospital business model
catered to 80% of the bell-curve of the middle-income community. The hospitals
are located in residential areas for easier access and operated with the lowest
overhead costs possible.
“All (the hospitals) are smaller than traditional hospitals and
designed for short lengths of in-patient stay,” Tan said, adding that the group
believed that a 80- to 90-bed hospital with more efficient medical care was
better than building a bigger hospital where higher overhead costs had to be
passed down to patients, insurance companies or corporations.
The group does not bank on medical tourism but treats foreign patients
as they would the local community.
Tan added that the group was looking to collaborate with more insurance
companies and corporate employers in the future.
The group has another five hospitals coming up in South-East Asia, with
the one in Vietnam is scheduled to be opened next month.
LIZ LEE
The Star
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