THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

IHH Healthcare makes foray into Myanmar

IHH Healthcare makes foray into Myanmar

IHH Healthcare, the world's second-largest healthcare provider by market value, has made the first step in venturing into the Myanmar private hospital market.

Through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Parkway Healthcare Indo-China Pte Ltd, the company held a groundbreaking ceremony for the US$70 million, 250-bed hospital in Yangon. The new hospital, Parkway Yangon, is Parkway Pantai’s first hospital in Myanmar, the company said in a statement released yesterday.  
It was encouraged by Myanmar's steps to improve healthcare infrastructure and expand basic health coverage, demand for private health services in the country is expected to rise. Myanmar's long-term income growth potential and gradual emergence of a middle class,
coupled with the rapid influx of foreign tourists and expatriates, are expected to bode well for private healthcare providers like IHH.
Dr Tan See Leng, managing director and chief executive officer of IHH and group chief executive officer and managing director of Parkway Pantai, said, “This exciting joint venture will bring high-quality healthcare to the people of Myanmar when it opens in 2020.
We believe this hospital will greatly support Myanmar’s national health policy, Health Vision 2030, which aims to deliver world-class healthcare outcomes, research and services, and improve the health of the citizens of Myanmar. Leveraging our more than 40 years’
experience in operating premium hospitals across 9 countries, we are committed to working closely with the local Ministry of Health and our business partners to help achieve this noble vision and elevate national healthcare standards in Myanmar.”
The project will be developed and operated by a joint venture consortium, Andaman Alliance Healthcare. The shareholders are Parkway Healthcare Indo-China with a 52 per cent stake, Singapore-incorporated Macondray Holdings (10.5 per cent), Myanmar-incorporated
AMMK Medicare (21.5 per cent), and Myanmar-incorporated Global Star (16 per cent).
The hospital is located at downtown Yangon on a 4.3 acres plot of land leased for 50 years by the Health Ministry. It will be developed through a “build-operate-transfer” model. Investment for the project has obtained approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission. 
According to IHH, the establishment of Parkway Yangon will be a catalyst for the training of healthcare professionals such as nurses and allied healthcare practitioners. This will create more jobs and uplift medical services to world-class standards. 
Doctors from Mount Elizabeth Hospital, one of the key hospitals under the Parkway Pantai network, have been actively engaging with specialists in Myanmar in various community outreach initiatives like exchange of medical expertise and outreach to the masses through
disease prevention and health promotion activities. The presence of Parkway Yangon will further these corporate social responsibility efforts to include partnerships with training colleges, scholarships, and overseas training fellowships for local Myanmese. 
IHH has been actively expanding its footprint in Asia. Earlier this month, it announced the plan to invest in a 350-bed hospital in Chengdu, China after leasing a space in Perennial International Health and Medical Hub there. It will be Chengdu's first foreign tertiary hospital and IHH's first hospital in Western China.
IHH is a major foreign-owned private healthcare operator in China with10 medical centres in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou and Hong Kong. Its 500-bed Gleneagles Hong Kong Hospital is on track to open in early-2017. IHH operates a global network of 49 hospitals across nine countries
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