PETALING JAYA: Ramsay Sime Darby Healthcare Sdn Bhd (RSDH), having earlier this year cancelled a RM431 million partnership deal with Jinxin Healthcare Investment Management Group Ltd in Chengdu, now wants to partner other hospital chains in China.
RSDH is a 50:50 joint venture between Sime Darby Bhd and Australia’s largest healthcare group, Ramsay Health Care Ltd.
The company operates three hospitals in Malaysia and another three in Indonesia.
RSDH also operates the Ramsay Sime Darby Healthcare College in Shah Alam, Selangor.
“Although we have a small presence in Malaysia and Indonesia, we can borrow up to RM2 billion (for new partnerships, including the hospital chains in China). We are initiating due diligence soon,” said RSDH group chief executive officer Bronte Kumm.
Since April last year, RSDH has seen a 20 per cent profit growth.
Kumm expects the business to continue expanding at 20 per cent from RM83 million in financial year ending June 2016 to surpass RM100 million in the current year ending June 2017.
Kumm, who took charge of RSDH since May last year, has decentralised hospital operations to simplify procedures.
RSDH’s hospital administrators are now better empowered to make decisions that solve problems more effectively.
“We used to have many staff at the head office. Following a natural attrition rate and redeployment, we are now a lot more efficient. We have achieved considerable cost savings and we do this with the aim of empowering our staff to contribute,” he told Business Times in an interview, here, recently.
“We will continue with this productive culture in encouraging our staff to multi-task, wherever necessary. We will also leverage on technologies to further simplify ways of doing things,” he added.
RSDH has adopted integrated electronic medical records across all its hospitals as it supports a patient-centric approach to healthcare.
Kumm listed down intangible benefits such as a reduction in potential medical errors, instant communication of laboratory tests and improvements in the quality of data for clinical research.
While the electronic medical record system gives easy access to patients’ medical information, Kumm said RSDH adheres to strict confidentiality of patients’ medical records provided under the Personal Data Protection Act.
On hospital upgrade, he said RSDH is setting aside RM600 million to further modernise its flagship Subang Jaya Medical Centre in Malaysia, and add 100 beds at RS Premier Jatinegara and RS Premier Bintaro medical centres in Indonesia.
In Maldives, RSDH is preparing to manage the “Tree Top Hospital”, which is slated for completion in January and fully operational to receive patients in May next year.