ISKANDAR PUTERI: Sunway Healthcare Group is expanding into southern Malaysia with an RM800mil hospital in Iskandar Puteri that will have more than 400 beds and create over 1,400 jobs.
Johor investment, trade, consumer affairs and human resources committee chairman Lee Ting Han said the development, which is expected to be completed in 2030, reflected strong investor confidence in the state.
“When Sunway, which is a very reputable company not just in Malaysia but regionally and internationally, is willing to put in its commitment into Johor, it creates confidence not just in Johor but also within the wider business and investment communities.
“With the hospital being built in Iskandar Puteri, it elevates the overall healthcare standards and creates some kind of competition, which will ultimately benefit Johor residents.
“At the same time, it will help resolve some of the hospital overcapacity issues that Johor has faced for many years,” he said in a press conference during the groundbreaking ceremony of Sunway Medical Centre Iskandar Puteri.
Lee said the state government was also looking at ways to expand cooperation with private healthcare providers to ease pressure on public hospitals.
“For private healthcare, what we have done so far includes some decanting exercises, where certain services are transferred to selected private healthcare providers because public hospitals cannot cope with the volume.
“Hopefully, when this hospital is completed, we can explore what we can do together with Sunway to move some operations from public hospitals to private hospitals,” he said.
Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Sir Dr Jeffrey Cheah said the group believed the time was right to establish the hospital as it continued to expand its presence in Iskandar Puteri.
“We have the hotel, we have the schools and we have the shopping mall. Now it is time we put up the medical centre, which I think is very timely,” he said.
Cheah said Sunway’s healthcare ecosystem had also helped attract Malaysian medical professionals working overseas to return home.
“We train our own doctors, nurses and clinicians, and we acquire some of the best medical equipment available.
“We are also able to attract a lot of good Malaysians who are working overseas back into our hospitals.
“We are very proud that we have created the ecosystem for them to come back and practise,” he said.
Cheah also expressed confidence in Johor’s potential as a medical tourism destination, particularly given its proximity to Singapore.
“Due to the currency factors between Singapore and Malaysia, we are confident that a lot of medical tourism will come our way.
“We are very upbeat about it and we want to build the best hospital here,” he said.
Sunway Healthcare Group president Datuk Lau Beng Long said the group had accelerated its healthcare expansion in recent years after taking a more gradual approach in its earlier years.
He said Sunway opened its first hospital in 1999, followed by Sunway Medical Centre Velocity in 2019.
“For 20 years, we did not expand into healthcare, but over the last seven or eight years, we have expanded very rapidly.”
Lau said demographic changes were another major factor behind Sunway’s healthcare expansion, particularly Malaysia’s growing and ageing population.
He said the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity was also creating greater demand for healthcare services.
“These are very chronic problems and real problems that demand a very good supply of high-standard healthcare services.
“In anticipation of that, Sunway Group decided that we should play our part to provide healthcare facilities of a high standard while ensuring that they are self-sustainable.
“After all, we are a community developer and healthcare is a very important component of a mixed development,” he said.
Sunway Group president Datuk Anuar Taib said the group’s investments in Johor were also positioned to benefit from improved connectivity once the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link begins operations.
He said Sunway viewed its developments around Bukit Chagar and Iskandar Puteri as serving different but complementary roles.
“RTS is a destination that we want people to want to be at and choose over other destinations in Johor Baru.
“Whereas Iskandar Puteri is a township that we want people to live in and want to be there to work, rest, learn and heal,” he said.
Sunway Medical Centre Iskandar Puteri will be built within the 809ha (2,000-acre) Sunway City Iskandar Puteri township.
The group is also exploring potential elder-care facilities in the state.
