IJN founder named chairman of new heart and vascular hospital

Malaysia has one of the highest mortality rates for cardiovascular diseases in the world, and there is a great need for cardiac and vascular facilities. Over the next year, I will look to assemble and establish a strong team of cardiac, vascular and related specialists, and ensure the hospital is well-equipped to deliver excellent care to our patients,

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Dr Yahya Awang (pic), a founder and the former head and medical director of the National Heart Institute (IJN), has been appointed chairman and founding partner of a cardiac and vascular centre to be opened in Kuala Lumpur Sentral CBD.

He will lead a team of established doctors to provide services to the public, according to a statement from Cardiac Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur Sdn Bhd (CVSKL), which is redeveloping lifestyle centre Sooka Sentral as the 70-bed healthcare centre.

CVSKL, a subsidiary of TE Asia Healthcare Partners (a TPG Capital portfolio company), had in August bought Sooka Sentral which consists of a commercial building with carpark on a 5,662-sq-m land from KL Sentral CBD’s master developer Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd for RM90.8mil.

TE Asia chief executive officer Eng Aik Meng said the company was excited to be able to continue investing in the high-growth healthcare sector in Malaysia, and was delighted to have a renowned Malaysian cardiac figure like Yahya joining it.

CVSKL’s integrated cardiovascular centre represents TE Asia’s second in a series of investments as TE Asia looks to build a portfolio of high growth medical specialties across Asia.”

Speaking on his appointment, Yahya said he was honoured to be a part of developing CVSKL.

“Malaysia has one of the highest mortality rates for cardiovascular diseases in the world, and there is a great need for cardiac and vascular facilities. Over the next year, I will look to assemble and establish a strong team of cardiac, vascular and related specialists, and ensure the hospital is well-equipped to deliver excellent care to our patients,” he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, cardiovascular diseases account for 36% of all deaths in the region, compared to a global average of 31%.

CVSKL said despite this, Malaysia had one of the lowest numbers of cardiologists in the world, with about six cardiologists per one million citizens.

“This is significantly lower than the approximate ratio of 56 cardiologists per million in the United States,” it said.

CVSKL also announced that it had signed a conditional agreement to acquire Health Scan Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a medical centre offering health screenings in Malaysia.

It said Health Scan Malaysia would support in developing the cardiac and vascular hospital. “The addition of Health Scan Malaysia will enable us to jump start the healthcare screening offering we will have at CVSKL, and we look forward to working with the shareholders of Health Scan Malaysia to further advance the country’s healthcare sector,” said Eng.

TPG Capital, which funds TE Healthcare, is the global buyout group of TPG, a private investment firm founded in 1992 with over US$74bil (RM316bil) of assets under management.