Gleneagles KK to start operations next year

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KOTA KINABALU: Private healthcare provider Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu is set to start its operations here in the first quarter of 2015.

Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu is the first foray by Pantai Holdings Berhad, Malaysia’s leading healthcare group, in establishing a private healthcare facility in East Malaysia.

It will be the 13th hospital under Pantai Holdings Berhad in Malaysia.

IHH Healthcare Berhad managing director cum chief executive officer Dr Tan See Leng said Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu would be operational with 200 beds, 80 doctor suites, six operating theatres, 24-hour Accident and Emergency Department with trauma and intensive care centre.

Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu held a topping up ceremony here yesterday, officiated by Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, representing Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman.

The topping up ceremony, held at the hospital’s construction site along Jalan Coastal, was done to commemorate the overall completion of the building structure by the developer.

Tan, who is also Parkway Pantai Limited Group chief executive officer, said the group had always identified healthcare as one of the core pillars of any economy.

However, he found that healthcare and education typically lagged behind in terms of development compared to infrastructure, logistics and so on.

Tan said the group could not have chosen a better location than Kota Kinabalu as it was the port of call in East Malaysia and Borneo.

“It is a location that provides you with security and stability and is growing exponentially in terms of the economy, under the guidance and able leadership of the Chief Minister and his team.”

He said the group envisaged a huge market and demand for healthcare needs here, as well as patients from Kalimantan and Balikpapan, in Indonesia coming in for healthcare needs.

“We hope we will transform Kota Kinabalu into a medical tourism destination,” he said, adding that China is only five hours away by air.

On the brand itself, Tan said Gleneagles was synonymous with quality private healthcare in South East Asia.

The group has over 40 years of experience in Malaysia with two flagship hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

“Regardless of where we are, our emphasis has always been on the local population, bringing international best practices and standards of healthcare to local communities.

“We envision the same for Kota Kinabalu – high quality clinical services with a transparent fee structure and fee packages that are accessible and affordable to the community of Sabah and beyond the region of Sabah.”

Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu will also recruit 80 per cent of its doctors from Sabah, including doctors working in the United Kingdom, West Malaysia and Singapore who wish to return to the State.

It was also reported that Sabahan nurses and senior staff working at Gleneagles Hospital in Kuala Lumpur and Penang are looking forward to coming back to work in Sabah.

Meanwhile, Pantai Holdings Berhad chairman Datuk Khairil Anuar Abdullah said the Group had a total of more than 2,000 beds, and handled over 158,000 admissions a year.

“We are anchored by a pool of clinical professionals, consisting of more than 820 doctors and 2,000 nurses.

“Besides our two prominent brands of hospitals, Pantai and Gleneagles, we also provide ancillary healthcare services, including comprehensive laboratory and rehabilitation services.”

He added that future developments was afoot in Iskandar Johor, which would soon witness the initiation of another Gleneagles Hospital to serve Johore residents and visitors from across the Causeway.

In the regional context, Pantai Holdings Berhad is a part of Parkway Pantai Limited, a subsidiary of IHH Healthcare Berhad (IHH), Asia’s largest healthcare group.

“IHH presently operates over 4,900 licensed beds in 31 hospitals with a footprint from Macedonia, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

“Projects are afoot in Hong Kong and we are already represented in the People’s Republic of China with a chain of clinics,” he said, adding that IHH also owned a strategic stake in the largest group of private hospitals in India.