SINGAPORE (April 29): Raffles Medical Group (RMG) says Raffles Hospital Chongqing saw around 500 patients over 1Q19 since it opened in January this year. The new hospital currently has between 100 and 150 beds, and the group intends to roll out more beds progressively to fill its 700 bed capacity.
See: Raffles Medical Group posts 13.7% lower 1Q earnings of $13.65 mil on gestation loss from Chongqing hospital
Previously, RMG guided that it would take three years for its Chongqing operation to break even. The group is anticipating start-up costs for the hospital to reach $8 million in FY2019.
Raffles Medical Group is also building a new 400-bed hospital in Shanghai that is likely to open next year.
Its start-up costs in FY2020 from the two hospitals are projected to amount to $12 million, with $4 million coming from the Chongqing hospital.
“We invested in China because it is a huge market and there is a big demand to satisfy. Chongqing has 34 million people… Progressively, our revenue and profit will be diversified. It won’t be long before China will represent a very significant [perhaps even] 20-40% of our overall picture,” says Loo Choon Yong, executive chairman of Raffles Medical Group.
Loo believes that at least 10% of the market can afford care at its hospital, which is the only international hospital in Chongqing.
He adds that the group is signing up corporate contracts with multinationals that have operations in the region, and that it also has deals with insurance companies to be preferred provider.
While the RMG’s net profit and EBITDA were affected by its investment in China, it saw higher revenue of 6.4% in its Singapore’s hospitals.
Currently, most of the growth comes from local patients in Singapore.
