Asia's largest hospital chain operator, IHH Healthcare Bhd (IHH), aims to achieve about 30 per cent of market share in
Malaysia following its debut on the Malaysian stock exchanges in early July this year.

Its Managing Director Dr Lim Cheok Peng said the company hopes to increase its market share in Malaysia from the current 15 per cent to between 25 to 30 per cent.

He said the group also hopes to achieve about 75 per cent market share in Singapore from the current 68 per cent.

"There is no specific time frame to achieve our target but our expansion plan will certainly help us in achieving it," he told Bernama in an interview today.

He said the company is looking forward to three to four new hospitals opening for business next year.

"In Malaysia, we are looking at the completion of a new hospital in Manjung, Perak and expansion of the Pantai Hospital in Bangsar next year," he said.

He added that the expansion of Gleneagles Hospital in Penang, which will have 250 beds, is expected to complete by year-end while construction of two new hospitals, one each in Kota Kinabalu and Medini, Johor, is expected to start early next year.

"The hospital in Kota Kinabalu is expected to be ready by 2014 while the one in Medini will be ready by 2015," he said, adding that the former will have 250 beds while the latter will have 300 to 350 beds.

Lim said the future looks good for the group as demand for healthcare services has been increasing for the past 20 years, partly due to the ageing population and to the greater disposal income of people seeking quality medical treatment.

IHH Healthcare is expected to announce its first half financial results tomorrow. -- Bernama