TMC Life aims for income rise from foreign medical tourism

PETALING JAYA: Healthcare provider, TMC Life Sciences Bhd, aims to increase its income from foreign medical tourism to 25% by 2020 from 10%.

Executive director/group chief executive officer Roy Quek, however, said, the company would still depend on its hospital project in Iskandariah, Johor Baru, and the expansion of the Kota Damansara Tropicana Medical Centre, to add on capacity, thus attracting more patients.

“Hopefully, the expansion projects in Kota Damansara and Johor Baru will take off as we are waiting for the building permit approvals.

“We really hope that both projects can start this year and be completed by 2020,” he told reporters after the company’s AGM here yesterday.

Quek said TMC would triple the number of beds in Kota Damansara Medical Centre from 200.

As for the 500-bedded Iskandariah Hospital, Johor Baru, with an estimated cost of RM1.5bil, it was still awaiting approval from the Health Ministry, said Quek, adding that the total cost of the project might reach RM5bil.

On the outlook for the healthcare industry, Quek said demand would remain reasonably strong, fuelled by changing demographics, a more affluent society and more health-conscious lifestyles among the population.

Asked on the impact of the current foreign exchange movement on the healthcare sector, he said, it would become cheaper for medical tourists to seek treatment in Malaysia and these include those from Singapore, Thailand and China.

“We are looking to bring in more medical tourists within the South-East Asian region, because there is tremendous demand across the region,” he added.

The group, which has allocated RM25mil in capital expenditure for 2017, currently received an earnings contribution of 17.8% from TMC Fertility Centre while the bulk of its revenue came from general hospital operations.