KUALA LUMPUR: IHH Healthcare Bhd wants to strengthen its presence in China and India in the next five years, given their rising population and income.

"We are already there but we want to widen our reach," IHH managing director Dr Lim Cheok Peng said after briefing fund managers at Invest Malaysia 2013 yesterday.

In India, IHH operates via the Apollo Hospital Group.

"We are operating one hospital in China at the moment and we want to expand our reach there," Dr Lim added.

He said the group sees growth across many markets.

IHH has set aside more than RM1 billion in capital expenditure to fund new hospitals in the region till 2015.

It is already the world's second-largest hospital group by market capitalisation, behind Hospital Corp of America, whose operations are largely in the United States.

The Khazanah Nasional Bhd-controlled IHH is also growing its presence in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Turkey, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

In Singapore, IHH, via Parkway, is the largest private healthcare provider in terms of number of licensed beds, garnering more than 40 per cent of market share.

In Malaysia, IHH - via the Pantai and Gleneagles brands - is the second-largest private healthcare provider in terms of number of licensed beds, with a more than 15 per cent market share.

In Turkey, IHH, which owns 60 per cent of Acibadem Healthcare Group, operates 18 hospitals, including three under development and 12 medical centres.

On whether the unrest in Turkey is denting Acibadem's business, Dr Lim said: "No, not at the moment but we're unsure over the long term."

On IHH's latest addition in Vietnam, he said the nine-storey hospital, which houses 10 operating theatres and 20 intensive care units, will admit its first batch of patients next week.

source"NST