KPJ Healthcare Berhad

KPJ on track to set up 10 hospitals in five years

The company aims to add two hospitals every year to its existing 23 hospitals. It is looking at two brand new hospitals in the first half of this year.

THE country's biggest private healthcare chain, KPJ Healthcare Bhd, is on track to meet its target of establishing 10 more hospitals across Malaysia between now and 2018.
The company aims to add two hospitals every year to its existing 23 hospitals. It is looking at two brand new hospitals in the first half of this year.
Speaking to Business Times in a recent interview here, KPJ's president and managing director Amiruddin Abdul Satar outlined the group's achievements and plans going forward.
"It is difficult to compare the group's performance in 2012 with 2013 or even 2014 because circumstances in each year are different. Thus, I can't say whether 2013 was a better year than 2012, or 2014 will be a better year overall because the number of hospitals and the quality of services change," he said.
"However, we are on track with our target of establishing 10 hospitals in five years with at least two hospitals this year. In fact, we're looking at opening a hospital in Rawang in the first quarter and Muar in the second quarter," he said.
The company has put aside RM200 million collectively for the creation of both hospitals, which is part of its roughly RM500,000 capital expenditure (capex) for 2014.
"Our capex for the year depends on the progress of the construction of the hospitals. We have half-a-billion (ringgit) allocated for this year but that depends on the progress of the projects," said Amiruddin.
At least two hospitals in Sarawak, one is Sabah and two more in Johor are in the pipeline.
KPJ, which historically has turned towards acquisitions to strengthen its war chest of hospitals, is also looking at acquiring a hospital this year.
"We're still early in the process right now as we are sending the signals that we are interested. It's too soon to say if anything will come out of it yet but as a buyer, we are always willing," he said, while keeping mum on the identity of the healthcare provider.
The healthcare firm, which holds a market share of 35 per cent based on the number of hospitals as at end-2013, is also looking at strengthening its support services such as laundry, food, sterilisation and laboratory.
"Patients' comfort at our hospitals is important to us and their comfort relates to our support services like food and laundry, and this is something that we want to further expand on this year," said Amiruddin.
Apart from the 23 private specialist hospitals spread across the country, KPJ also has presence internationally through two hospitals in Indonesia, one in Thailand and a retirement age-care resort in Australia.
Today, KPJ has more than 3,000 operating beds in its network of hospitals and serves more than 2.4 million outpatients annually.