Pantai Hospital To Make Presence Felt In Iskandar Development Region

05 March 2010 , By Bernama

Pantai Holdings Bhd is set to build a RM500 million hospital-cum-nursing college in the Iskandar Development region.

"A 400-bed Pantai Hospital Centre of Excellence and a nursing college will co-exist side-by-side in the Johore project," said Chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Khatib Abdul Hamid.

He was speaking to reporters after signing a collaborative agreement, on behalf of Pantai Holdings, with Preventive Healthcare Sdn Bhd here Thursday.

Mohamed Khatib, however, declined to reveal further details except to say the project was scheduled for completion in 2015.

Under the collaborative agreement, Preventive Healthcare, a health screening programme developer, will offer a comprehensive range of check-ups, medical specialists and dietician consultants as well as an electronic storage of all personal medical records for up to 15 years.

Pantai Hospitals will be the exclusive service provider for the programme.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, Datuk Ooi Say Chuan, said the government realised the potential and contribution of the healthcare services sector to Gross Domestic Product.

Malaysia recorded a jump in revenue generated by foreign patients seeking medical treatment in Malaysia to RM299.1 million from a meagre RM14.1 million registered ten years ago.

"The number of foreign patients in the decade also saw a tremendous growth of 374,063 patients from 39,114 patients in 1998.

"All these proves the healthcare services industry, especially the medical tourism segment, has the potential to become a new source of income," he said.