"Five-star healthcare."

(The Edge – July 14, 2003 )

Maryann Tan

Hospitals are just not the kind of place that would make any "top 10 places to visit" list -- unless absolutely necessary, that is. This is a place where needles are jabbed into your veins, where tubes are stuck down or up your tubes and where you are more likely than not to hear bad news.

Private healthcare may have made visits to hospitals a little less unpleasant but, even then, the occasional grouchy staff member at your service will add to the pain caused by the hefty fees.

But that's not going to happen at the spanking new HSC Medical Centre. Expect to find warm greetings, first-name recognition, speedy test results and, best of all, none of the painful and humiliating poking and jabbing test procedures patients get at private hospitals.

But then again, its executive director Dr Y C Lim will tell you that HSC is not a hospital in the purest sense of the word.

For starters, the centre does not have any wards -- it only provides day care for patients recuperating from surgical procedures. Neither will you see emergency rooms with patients waiting for a stitch-up. And since only a fraction of the people who come to HSC actually end up on the operating table, the hospital prefers to call them visitors instead of patients.

With its classy finishes and plush suede sofas in the VIP waiting area, the centre certainly aims for a comfortable and hospitable setting, much like a hotel lobby. Its location at the Darby Park service apartments just off Jalan Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur is also uncommon for a conventional medical centre.

Meanwhile, its non-medical customer service personnel have all previously worked in the hotel sector.

" It is an entirely new concept in Malaysia. We use improved and advanced techniques for our diagnosis so you can walk out on the same day," says Lim who is also co-founder of HSC. "So far we haven't seen any centres that emphasize such customer service in Southeast Asia , except for the Bumrungrad Medical Centre in Bangkok ."

A notable feature of HSC is its focus on preventive medication rather than treatment. Which perhaps explains why a frail and sickly face at the centre is an uncommon sight. "You could say that Malaysia suffers from a glut of private medical centres but not of diagnostic centres," explains Lim when asked about the need for yet another private medical centre. "Nobody has taken a look at the preventive viewpoint, which will actually amount to less suffering and lower cost for patients in the long run."

Diagnosis at HSC is centred on three key areas, that is, heart disease, cancer and stroke, hence the acronym. The reason being, these three ailments are the leading causes of deaths in the world. A number of screening packages offered at the centre can help ascertain the risk of these occurring in an individual's lifetime.

State-of-the-art medical equipment at the centre allows for a full body multi-slice CT (computer tomography) scan from the thorax to pelvis in just 22 seconds.

The scan tests the patient for risks of heart disease, stroke and cancer. It also provides non-invasive coronary angiograms which has an accuracy rate of 97 per cent.

And if visitors check in by noon, Lim says HSC will produce the results on the same day.

" The scan is fast, does not require admission and it causes less patient discomfort," says Lim adding that same-day results for such comprehensive tests are not possible when conducted at other medical centres.

Besides a fully integrated set- up, the quick screening is made possible with the US$1.5 million Siemens 16-slice MSCT scanning machine, one of only two available in Asia -- Hong Kong has the other.

One bragging right is the machine's capability to render the heart in 3D images, allowing cardiologists to diagnose the narrowing of coronary arteries.

According to Lim, no CT scanning machine was powerful and fast enough to capture images of the heart prior to this. The machine is also capable of scanning for the narrowing of the carotid artery, a major cause of stroke in patients.

Operating with an integrated IT hospital management network, a patient's status is accessible by authorised doctors from any point in the centre. Its laboratory, which churns out blood and urine test results, is staffed with a surprisingly small number of people thanks to automation.

" It is always better to use machines because you minimise error and can control cost," explains Lim. But while the centre employs only about 20 people, it does have a medical team that includes one of the country's top cardiologists.

All this, of course, comes at a price. A comprehensive screening package costs a stiff RM2,720 for males and hefty RM2,900 for females (including pap smear, mammogram and pelvic ultrasound).

It's no surprise then that HSC's patrons come from higher income groups and prominent individuals. In the four months since it began operations, word of HSC's services has spread across the region. Even a well-known business magnate from Hong Kong paid the centre a visit recently.

Lim says that 20 per cent of HSC's patrons are tourists from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia; the centre expects to serve some 5,000 to 8,000 local and foreign visitors a year.

" We believe we stand a good chance for being the catalyst for medical tourism in Malaysia ," says Lim who, together with his partners, have invested some RM14 million in the centre so far. He intends to pour another RM6 million or so by this year into new facilities and equipment.

Like many other countries in the region, Malaysia is toying with the concept of medical tourism, where travellers get their health checked while soaking up the sun here.

Lim reckons that Malaysia has the upper hand cost-wise, as medical fees here are about half that of Singapore, Indonesia and even Thailand.

With country representatives promoting the centre in Indonesia, HSC is planning to tie up with Genting World Resorts for a package that includes a screening and a tour of Genting Highlands.

It will also set up a satellite diagnostic centre at a medical health spa in a golf resort in Johor to tap the Singaporean market. Visitors who run an ECG test at these centres, for instance, can have their heart rates monitored by a cardiologist in real time from HSC in KL.

Eventually these satellite screening centres will be situated in strategic resorts all over the country.

HSC has also tied up with health insurance companies to offer health screening services for policy holders. Lim says Hong Leong Assurance, for one, is a "close partner".

With its popularity growing, Lim expects HSC to be profitable soon and harbours ambitions to go public either in Singapore or Malaysia within the next five years.

" We are expecting growth of about 10 per cent a year. What's important for us is the referrals by existing clients. There may be such centres in other countries but people come here for a reason because they hear from friends about out service standards and our specialists," says Lim.