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Hospital to cater for price-conscious patients
Parkway Health group has launched Parkway East Hospital on the eastern shore of Singapore to cater for price-conscious patients in the country as well as from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam
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arkway Health group has launched Parkway East Hospital on the eastern shore of Singapore to cater for price-conscious patients in the country as well as from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
The hospital’s deputy chief executive officer, Daniel Chan, said a growing number of medical travelers from these countries had sought personalized and quality care for the past few years.
Daniel said the hospital had been designed to cater for these patients’ needs.
“Located just 20 minutes away from Changi International Airport, the 118-bed general acute care hospital is integrated with a medical specialist center and a 24-hour emergency department,” he said in a statement.
Parkway Health is a major private healthcare provider in Asia, operating 15 hospitals and seven medical centers in Singapore, Brunei, China, India and Malaysia, mostly through the Gleaneagles and Pantai Hospital brands.
The group, with its three hospitals in Singapore – the Parkway East, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth – has also been a major private player among a total of 11 private hospitals in the country.
Room rates at Parkway East are cheaper than the other two hospitals, starting at S$135 (US$97) per day for a four-bed room and $988 for a super VIP room. The other two hospitals provide rooms starting at $200 to more than $4,000 for suites.
The United Nations’s World Health Organization ranks Singapore as having the sixth best health system in the world while Thailand and Malaysia were positioned at 47th and 49th respectively.
Indonesia ranks 92nd, Bangladesh 88th , and Vietnam lags far behind at 160th on the list.
The health system assessment was determined by level and distribution of health services as well as fairness in financial contribution in each country.
The Jakarta Post’s Weekender magazine reported that more than half of Singapore’s 400,000 medical travelers came from Indonesia.
The number of patients from Indonesia to the three hospitals, however, has been sagging for the past three years. The number of inpatients and day surgery has declined from 12,200 in 2007 to 11,200 in 2009.
At the same time, a significant number of medical tourists have been flowing from Indonesia to hospitals in Malaka and Penang, Malaysia.
Media reports estimated 70 percent of about 350,000 patients coming to the country within the year came from Indonesia. Serambi Indonesia daily reported that Lam Wah Ee hospital in Penang had 12,000 Indonesian patients a year while the Adventist hospital, also in Penang, had 14,000.
Daniel said that Parkway East was not designed to compete with the emerging hospitals in Malaka and Penang.
“The hospital has positioned itself as the private, boutique hospital of choice supported by a multi-disciplinary team of specialists and backed by modern technology,” he said.
Accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI), Daniel said Parkway East was reputed for specialist areas (ear, nose and throat), general surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, ophthalmology and orthopedic surgery.
Parkway Health’s CEO for global and corporate marketing Kamaljeet Singh Gill said health was a precious thing in life, meaning that medical tourists should look beyond price when choosing a treatment.
“Political, economic and social conditions in the country where the hospital is located and technology are main factors that also determine a patient’s recovery,” he said.
