TMC Life Sciences medical hub in Iskandar to begin ops by 2020

PETALING JAYA: TMC Life Sciences Bhd’s integrated medical hub called Thomson Iskandar, part of the RM5 billion Vantage Bay Healthcare City project in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, is expected to begin operations by 2020.
Located just off the Causeway linking Johor and Singapore, the medical hub will house a 500-bed tertiary hospital, 400 special medical suites and related health and wellness facilities.
The private hospital operator’s executive director and group CEO Roy Quek told reporters at a briefing last Friday that construction of the
500-bed hospital would begin after the group secured its final approval from the Health Ministry.
“We have got all the approvals, except from the MoH (Ministry of Health). We are working very closely with them to get the final approval so that we can start the work. Once we get the final approval, then we can award the contract. We have already shortlisted the contractors,” he added.
Quek said the first phase of the Vantage Bay Healthcare City project will involve the development of Thomson Iskandar, which will cost up to RM1.3 billion.
Other than the medical hub, the RM5 billion project would comprise a teaching hospital, medical school, and research and training institutions.
“We need the hospital to start (operations) before we move to (other) additional facilities. But the medical school and the hospital will be the first phase that we want to develop, because they are co-related.
“This marks our first venture into the education sector. I personally feel that healthcare and education are the two sectors that are highly resilient,” he said.
TMC had inked two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with UK-based Cell Therapy Ltd (CTL) and University College Dublin (UCD).
The partnership with CTL will explore and develop programmes to train medical professionals in the partner hospitals that include the affiliated Thompson Medical Centre in Singapore in regenerative medicine and stem cell technology.
The MoU with UCD aims for an establishment of a health sciences education and training platform in Malaysia and Singapore.
On costs for the medical school and training centre project, Quek said the group has not come up with any numbers yet as it is still in discussions.
"We are still discussing with UCD ... part of the costs comes from the university. We are currently working on a discussion to sign a form of agreement sometime next year," he added.