SINGAPORE MEDICAL GROUP: Strategy for leading in women & children’s healthcare

Astra Women’s Specialists has 5 reputable senior obstetricians and gynaecologists who sub-specialize in fetal-maternal medicine, reproductive & infertility medicine (including In-vitro fertilization), pelvic floor medicine and urogynaecology. (Photo: Astra Women's Specialists) Not only is Singapore Medical Group’s (SMG) recent acquisition of two pediatric clinics an initial foray into pediatrics, it is also part of a bigger picture of related deals over the past six months. “This is the first time we are coming out of the box to say that our bigger objective is to be a market leader in the women & children’s healthcare space,” said SMG CEO, Dr Beng Teck Liang, in an exclusive interview with NextInsight. “When you get patients from such a young age, they are likely to stay with you when they get older. Once we have these patients, we want to follow them through their entire health lifecycle.” - Dr Beng Teck Liang CEO Singapore Medical Group “When a pregnant woman delivers her baby, she will need either a neonatologist or a pediatrician. “One of our two pediatric doctors is a neonatologist. "This acquisition will thus propel us up the value chain in providing our O&G patients with comprehensive care for their children,” said Dr Beng. Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics covering the medical care of newborns, especially ill or prematurely born infants. It is a hospital-based specialty, and is usually practised in neonatal intensive care units. “As these babies grow, they need healthcare services such as vaccination. Kids can fall ill easily. A child of up to 10 years old may need to visit a pediatrician at least 4 to 6 times a year. “General practice doctors may provide the initial consultation for pediatric problems like asthma, whooping cough, hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD), and fever, but they often refer the children to pediatricians. Pediatricians are specialists who have additional training on top of sitting for a qualifying examination on the treatment of specific children’s problems. “We want to grow to at least 8 pediatricians over the next 3 years. And we aim to double our current team of 8 O&G specialists. That makes one pediatrician for every 2 O&G specialists,” he said.

Women & children’s specialist care in heartlands

SMG’s acquisition of Astra Women’s Specialists enables the Group to expand on its services in general obstetrics & gynaecology, fetal-maternal medicine, urogynaecology, and in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The acquisition made SMG one of Singapore’s largest private specialist chains in the O&G space.

The vendors are a group of reputable senior obstetricians and gynaecologists who have undertaken to provide a 6-year tenure of service with the Group. This arrangement enlarges the Group’s pool of established O&G specialists and provides a platform for mentoring younger specialists in its O&G practice.

“We want to offer specialist obstetrics & gynaecology as well as specialist pediatric services at convenient locations in the heartlands.” - Dr Beng Teck Liang CEO Singapore Medical Group (Photo: Company)

SMG’s strategy is to bring specialist women & children’s healthcare services into the heartlands.

Other than its flagship clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre, Astra Women’s Specialists has clinics at Bishan, Hougang, Tiong Bahru, and Jurong East.

The addition of two pediatric clinics in Toa Payoh and Bishan increases its women & children’s footprint to 8 clinics in Singapore heartlands.

The Group intends to add pediatric clinics near to its existing O&G clinics. It will also add two additional O&G specialists in the coming months.

SMG and Thomson Medical are the only two major players in this space that have both O&G and pediatric clinics in the heartlands.

Singapore O & G provides services out of medical centres such as Parkway East hospital, Gleneagles hospital, Thomson Medical Centre, Mount Elizabeth Novena hospital, and Paragon Medical Suites.

Vietnam's population growth

Demographic trends in Vietnam such as a rising standard of living, a large population, relatively high population growth, and government policy support are supporting demand for O&G and pediatric services.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with GDP growth of 6.2% in 2016.  It has a population of 95 million with a fertility rate of 1.96. In comparison, Singapore has a population of 5.7 million with a fertility rate of 1.24.

There were 1.6 million live births in Vietnam last year, compared to 33,161 in Singapore.

The Communist government of Vietnam is considering changing a law that restricts most families to two children. Adjustments to the policy is expected to happen this year in certain parts of the country.

Unlike other Singapore healthcare providers, SMG has a strong network and presence in Vietnam. It recently engaged a leading pediatrician under Careplus Clinic Vietnam as part of its plan to aggressively add pediatric clinics and pediatricians regionally in the near term.

Leading Korean O&G/IVF player to provide expertise

SMG's acquisition of the pediatric clinics was partly funded by the proceeds of a S$15 million placement to one of Asia's leading medical groups, CHA Healthcare Co Ltd, on 15 March 2017.

CHA has received worldwide recognition and accolades for its excellence in clinical research and accomplishments in the fields of reproductive medicine and O&G.

It is widely recognised as Korea’s leader in infertility, women’s health and maternity care. The medical group alone handles about 12,000 IVF cases annually, double the number in Singapore.

It has 10 hospitals in Korea, the majority of which are specialist O&G hospitals. This means CHA also has many pediatricians, in addition to O&G and IVF specialists. It also has medical and nursing schools in Korea as well as IVF research facilities.

Dr Beng is hopeful that CHA's significant shareholding in SMG will pan out into a long-term collaboration of knowledge transfer in state-of-the-art artificial reproductive techniques such as egg freezing to doctors from SMG's clinics in Southeast Asia.

“We are not happy with just status quo. We want to be at the forefront of technology,” he said.