Featured Stories | Singapore Economic Development Board

Harnessing Asia’s Demand for Specialist Services

Pacific Healthcare has quickly grown from its beginnings in 2001 to become one of Singapore’s top healthcare groups offering specialist medical and dental care, and aesthetic and wellness services. Its core competencies include cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiology, and implant and aesthetic dentistry. In addition, the company also offers healthcare facilities management services, as well as advisory and consultancy services for conceptualizing, planning, designing and developing specialist medical centres and hospitals.

Pacific Healthcare has expanded rapidly across Asia. In 2008, the healthcare group entered into a joint venture with Yash Birla Group to open five specialist cosmetic centres and medical spas in India, invested in a specialist centre in Jakarta, and announced plans to open cancer care centres across the region. It was appointed consultant to conceptualize and manage Bangkok Mediplex as Priory International’s expansion plans in Asia. Priory International Ltd. is part of the Priory Group, Europe’s leading independent provider of acute mental healthcare. Priory is also the UK's leading specialist provider of education and care for children and young people with special needs.

Asia’s Leader in Healthcare Extends into Education

Singapore's Parkway Health is Asia's largest healthcare service provider. Its operations cover 14 hospitals with about 2,800 beds in countries including Brunei, India, Malaysia and Singapore. With 1,500 medical specialists covering 40 specialties, Parkway Health offers comprehensive medical care through eight clinical programmes in heart & vascular, musculoskeletal, neuroscience, oncology, primary care & chronic disease management, surgery, transplant and cellular therapy, women & children. Today, 35 per cent to 40 per cent of its patients in Singapore are foreigners.

In addition to healthcare services, Parkway Health has ventured into professional healthcare education through its subsidiary - Parkway College. In July 2008, Parkway College launched niche courses in nursing, clinical governance, and healthcare management to expand the pool of healthcare professionals in Singapore.

Driving Healthcare Innovation

Singapore is expanding its base of hospitals that are working closely with companies to test-bed and develop innovative solutions. Changi General Hospital is one of these hospitals. It has partnered Intel to test-bed the Mobile Clinical Assistant, a lightweight mobile device that provides information on patients’ conditions and test results to caregivers who are on the move. Other hospitals that have linked up with companies include the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which is adopting an innovation model for companies to test and develop new systems together with the hospital. New hospitals in Novena have also been designed to allocate wards for testing eco-friendly healthcare technologies.