KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 – IHH Healthcare Bhd, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Pantai Medical Centre Sdn Bhd, yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to extend the care and treatment of cancer patients in Malaysia through its network comprising Pantai Hospitals, Gleneagles Hospitals and Prince Court Medical Centre (PCMC).
Under the terms of the MOU, IHH Healthcare Malaysia will fully sponsor radiotherapy and radiosurgery for 500 cancer patients undergoing treatments at government hospitals.
These patients, identified and referred by MOH and their designated specialists, will receive treatment across seven of IHH Healthcare Malaysia’s hospitals that are equipped with state-of-the-art technology – the Gamma Knife and Linear Accelerator (LINAC) – to treat cancer.
The seven are IHH hospitals comprise three in the central region (Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur, and Prince Court Medical Centre), two in the north (Gleneagles Hospital Penang, Pantai Hospital Penang), and two in the south (Gleneagles Hospital Medini Johor and Pantai Hospital Ayer Keroh).
Radiotherapy is an essential part of many cancer treatments. LINAC uses high-energy X-rays to treat tumours with high accuracy; whereas Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a high precision radiation therapy used to treat tumours without the need to make an incision. Both LINAC and Gamma Knife radiosurgery minimises damage to healthy tissues surrounding the target.
“This is a significant and meaningful collaboration for us, being able to avail the use of our Cancer Centre facilities and resources in different parts of Malaysia to the Ministry of Health to help cancer patients,” said IHH Healthcare Malaysia chief executive officer Jean-Francois Naa in a statement.
“We, as one of the largest health care providers, are all committed towards improving the overall health and well-being of Malaysians. We look forward to deepening our collaboration with MOH, and further engaging relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to reduce the disease burden associated with cancer.”
The MOU supports the broad goals under the government’s National Cancer Control Blueprint (2021-2025) to widen access to care and treatment for cancer patients in Malaysia.
“We see ourselves as an integral part of the communities we operate in. No matter where we are, we always look for ways to give back,” said IHH managing director and CEO Dr Kelvin Loh.
“Collaborations with like-minded stakeholders is one of the key means through which we address some of the most pressing health care challenges of our lifetimes. We embrace IHH’s responsibilities as a leading global healt hcare provider and corporate citizen, and we are proud to announce this initiative anchored on our aspiration to ‘Care. For Good.’.”
“Through this collaboration with Ministry of Health Malaysia, we have the opportunity to serve the public by providing more patients in Malaysia with access to excellent care and outcomes, while supporting the national health care agenda,” said IHH chairman Mohammed Azlan Hashim.
The MOU marks the latest collaboration between IHH Healthcare Malaysia and MOH.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, IHH Healthcare Malaysia’s network of hospitals and laboratories were among the first to support the government’s pandemic efforts by conducting Covid-19 testing, administering vaccines for frontliners and the public, and treating Covid-19 and non-Covid patients transferred from public hospitals.
