KUALA LUMPUR: Spending two or three days in hospital for certain medical procedures could become a thing of the past when a new daycare model aimed at making private healthcare more affordable and efficient kicks off.
The Ambulatory Care Centres (ACCs), a new care model introduced by IHH Healthcare Malaysia, will enable patients to undergo selected procedures, including day surgery, without being admitted to a main hospital and help them cut down treatment costs and return home sooner.
IHH Healthcare Malaysia chief executive officer Dr Kamal Amzan said the group would launch its first ACC in Medini, Iskandar Puteri, Johor, where selected procedures that traditionally required hospital admission could be completed within a day.
"With the ACC, we can carry out certain procedures in a day-care setting, and allow patients to return home sooner,” he said in an interview here on Thursday.
Dr Kamal said IHH Healthcare Malaysia, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Pantai Medical Centre Sdn Bhd has acquired Afiniti Wellness in Medini, which would be converted to an ACC serving Gleneagles Hospital Johor (GHJ).
He said procedures such as endoscopy, cataract surgery, kidney dialysis, dental procedures and health screening would be moved to the centre along with selected surgeries suitable for a day-care setting.
"For instance, a cholecystectomy or gallbladder removal surgery would normally require a two- or three-day hospital admission, but it can now be done as a day procedure. The same applies to knee replacement surgery. What used to take two or three days can now be completed within a day. This is about making healthcare more affordable and efficient. Patients who require extended treatment or a higher level of care would be referred to the main hospital,” said the public health physician.
He said the model would allow GHJ to concentrate its resources on acute and complex cases such as cancer treatment and brain surgery.
Despite the focus on time and cost savings, Dr Kamal stressed that patient safety, recovery and the quality of medical services would not be compromised.
He said it would be the first ACC within IHH Healthcare's network, with more planned in Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak as the group explores ways to expand healthcare capacity without having to build a full-sized hospital each time demand increases.
He said part of the expansion was also due to the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), which is expected to drive economic activity and increase the movement of people, talent and investment across the Johor-Singapore corridor.
Dr Kamal said IHH expects strong growth in healthcare in Johor, partly driven by medical tourists from Indonesia and Singapore.
He said the GHJ currently has 300 beds, but demand for its services is expected to rise as more patients seek treatment in the state.
"The hospital has dedicated medical tourism services providing comprehensive assistance for overseas patients including travel document processing and arrangements for local tours," he said.
Dr Kamal said the ACC model could also complement the government's planned Medi-Asas affordable medical insurance scheme by providing another avenue for patients to access private healthcare.
"With Medi-Asas, more Malaysians will be insured, and there will be a demand for private care. So instead of building big hospitals each time, we can build ACCs to complement hospitals. This effort will support the national agenda,” he said.
"Development of the ACC in Medini is expected to begin soon with completion targeted for the second or third quarter of 2028," Dr Kamal said.
He said the ACC forms part of IHH Healthcare Malaysia's wider expansion in Medini, where GHJ and the group's existing landbank will eventually form an integrated healthcare campus spanning about 18 acres.
Dr Kamal said upon completion of the ACC, the campus is expected to support about 350 inpatient beds while a further 150-bed inpatient block is being evaluated as part of the hospital's longer-term plans to expand its tertiary and quaternary care capabilities.
IHH Healthcare is a multinational healthcare provider operating across 10 countries and operates 18 hospitals here with about 3,600 beds under Gleneagles, Island Hospital, Pantai, Prince Court and Timberland Medical Centre.
Since its inception in 2015, GHJ has handled more than 1.7 million patients and has more than 100 specialists and over 1,200 healthcare professionals covering oncology, cardiology, orthopaedics, neuroscience, and women's and children's health.
Its clinical capabilities include the da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery, robotic-assisted joint replacement systems, PET-CT, linear accelerator (LINAC) and other specialised diagnostic and treatment platforms.
