KPJ making healthy strides

KPJ Healthcare Bhd is on overdrive in its search for perfect-fit acquisitions as well as building new hospitals. “The name of the game is expansion. The private healthcare industry in Malaysia has been coming up very strongly. KPJ and other players are on the expansion mode. The demand is there because of the affluent society and good economy,” managing director Datin Paduka Siti Sa'diah Sheikh Bakir tells StarBizWeek.

She says the catalyst that pushed healthcare in Malaysia is insurance. “Companies, employers and individuals buy insurance. Those are the catalysts. People are investing in their health. They are willing to buy health insurance. They know that if something happens to them, they are covered. So that's why the business is growing.”