As the Asian Financial Crisis began to unfold itself, little was known of the story of SEA Medical Sdn Bhd.It’s founder, Mr. Amreek Singh, who is the presently the Managing Director remember the day he left as the Country Sales Manager of a multinational company 6 months before the crisis.

Having suffered losing his entire life savings to the tumbling Malaysian Ringgit in 1997, he invited a lawyer in 1998 and a doctor in 1999 to invest in the desperately cash-strapped company. The slowly in-flowing share-holder funds sustained the company but there were still losses in 1998 and 1999 though in lesser proportions.  The company’s biggest flaws in the early years were the product agencies it distributed which were largely general medical consumables like endotracheal tubes, foley catheters, surgical gowns, syringes and needles. The consolidation of the supplies called ‘standard items’ to government hospitals through a single company which could import directly due to its sheer size was one of the factors that contributed to losses. The other factor was the presence of  big distributing houses which were able to buy and stock consumables at lower costs and could also sell at lower prices to private hospitals as compared to smaller companies. 

Having suffered losses for 3 consecutive years, its founder working against the advice of his Auditors to close the company down. decided to shift the focus from general medical consumables to niche-market products in the year 2000 and found its 1st success with compatible SpO2 Sensors which was launched in the year 2000. What followed naturally after the success of SpO2 Sensors was Pulse Oximeters which were launched in the year 2001 which was soon followed by Vital Signs Monitors in the year 2002. We sold our 1st Multiparameter Patient Monitor in the year 2005  and has ever since made Patient Monitoring Equipment as our primary product  and Compatible SpO2 Sensors as our secondary in what we call today as our medical range.

Simultaneously, as the medical range of products were developing, SEA Medical experimented with the distribution of surgical instruments and found limited success due to the competition from bigger players one of which was an MNC with manufacturing facilities in Malaysia. As in the past SEA Medical decided to climb up the value-ladder to overcome the competition by tapping niche markets in the surgical field by specializing. SEA Medical found success with Tourniquet Systems used in orthopedic surgery where we have even received orders from Singapore and Myanmar through references from our satisfied customers in Malaysia. We are currently discussing with companies manufacturing powered surgical instruments and minimal-invasive surgery products and look forward to launch them in the near future.

When asked what he sees as the future of SEA Medical, Mr. Amreek has this to say. “I see SEA Medical growing from a small enterprise revolving around a single person to a medium-sized company administered by a Management Committee comprising of four (4) Managers and three (3) Directors who would lead the company to greater heights. The transformation would be the result of constantly recruiting, training, coaching and guiding employees to take up positions in sales, marketing, business development, technical support, customer service, logistics, accounting and human resource.”

He further said, “The company will continue to capitalize on its customer base by increasing the agencies for the medical and surgical range as well as introducing the third category which would be the laboratory range.”

As a closing statement he drew our attention to the Corporate Philosophy, Vision and Culture Statements which was typed on an A4 size paper hanging on the notice board in his office room. It would be interesting to see how this small enterprise takes on the challenges in the statements. To start with SEA Medical would advertise its products in the Medical Supplies Annual Directory and would contribute consecutively an article each with emphasis on the technology behind some of its products and the manufacturing processes involved in the next two (2) issues of the Medical News.

For further information, you could call 019-2278315 or visit www.sea-medical.com