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Raffles Medical Group

Raffles Medical Group (RMG), established in 1976, is one of Singapore's largest private integrated healthcare providers. The group runs a network of clinics, hospitals, surgical centres, speciality units and medical laboratories throughout the island. It also provides specialised medical services such as evacuation and repatriation services. It owns a part of the Raffles Hospital and has diversified into other business activities such as consultancy services and manufacturing its own range of health care products.

Early history
In 1976, two friends, doctors Loo Choon Yong and Alfred Loh opened two clinics in the Central Business District (CBD). At that time, their main aim was to offer medical services to corporate clients in the CBD. By 1989, the duo owned five clinics. It was around this time that the two friends decided to incorporate the clinics into a medical practice group - the Raffles Medical Group. The company expanded in a big way after its incorporation. In 1993, it moved into the HDB heartlands with its first neighbourhood clinic in Bishan and other similar clinics soon followed in other estates. They also opened a 24 hour travel clinic at the airport in 1995 and another travel clinic at Raffles SurgiCentre in Clemenceau Avenue. The travel clinics were the one of the first of such clinics in Singapore after the International Travel Clinic at the Communicable Disease Centre at Moulmein Road.

The group's high point came with the opening of their day care surgery centre, Raffles SurgiCentre, also in 1993. This centre was Southeast Asia's first stand-alone day surgery centre. It offered a range of diagnostic and laboratory services, health-screening facilities and housed a physiotherapy and a children's clinics. It had four operating theatres specialising in minimally invasive surgery. In 1996, another milestone was reached when the group signed an agreement with Pidemco Land to jointly develop a hospital at North Bridge Road. The hospital, Raffles Hospital was completed and started operations in March 2001. With its opening, the SurgiCentre was integrated into the hospital.

Later developments
RMG currently runs over 50 clinics across Singapore, operates medical laboratories and an imaging centre. It established its presence overseas in 1995 with a clinic in Hong Kong. RMG now runs four clinics in Hong Kong. Apart from local customers, the group targets patients from other countries who would normally go to well-known medical centres in Western countries. Its customer base includes patients from the Gulf, Indonesia, Malaysia and Indochina.

Apart from providing general and specialised medical and dental treatment services to the general public and corporate clients, the group also provides business management and consultancy services to help companies manage their healthcare costs. It also offers unique services such as medical evacuation and repatriation services to its clients. It became the first Sesdaq-listed medical group in Singapore in 1997. The group earns most of its revenues from healthcare and diagnostics. In 1996, it teamed up with a United States healthcare company, Kaiser Permanente, the world's largest health-maintenance organisation, to manage and develop hospitals jointly in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2003, the group launched a subsidiary company called Raffles Health to manufacture its own range of vitamins and health supplement pills. Other RMG subsidiaries include Raffles Diagnostica Pte Ltd and Raffles Medical Properties Pte Ltd.

Address
Raffles Medical Group Limited
585 North Bridge Road
Singapore 188770



Author
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja



References   
First stand-alone centre. (1993, October 7). The Straits Times, Life!, p. 3.

Lee, J. (1997, September 17). Going global the Singapore way. The Straits Times, p. 45.

New airport travel clinic to dispense drugs, advice. (1995, March 25). The Straits Times, p. 27. 

Seah, L. (1996, November 16). Health-care vision finds fulfilment 20 years on. The Straits Times, Life!, p. 8.

Tee, H.C. (2003, June 1). Raffles Medical packs health in a bottle. The Straits Times, Life!

Tan, L. E. (1997, March 11). Raffles Medical and Serial System get Sesdaq listing nod. The Straits Times, p. 48. 

Business Development Asia LLC. (1998, June 7). Focus: Leading SE Asian hospital groups. South East Asian Health News. Retrieved October 9, 2003, from www.bdallc.com/news/Health/Iss7/foch7.html

Raffles Hospital. (2002). The Raffles specialists. Retrieved October 9, 2003, from www.raffleshospital.com/newsletter/Mar02_special.pdf


Further Readings
Loh, H.Y. (2003, September 20). The business of medicine; Loo Choon Yong, executive chairman of Raffles Medical Group talks to Loh Hui Yin about the Iranian twins experience and the tricky business of marketing healthcare. The Business Times, Special Focus. 

Long. S. (1998, July 26). Doc serves his talents. The Straits Times, p. 3. 

The information in this article is valid as at 2002 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Politics and Government>> Health
Organisation>>Companies
Business enterprises--Singapore
Medical care--Singapore
Integrated delivery of health care--Singapore
Business, finance and industry>>Industry>>Healthcare and medicine

Librarian Recommendations
>> Raffles Hospital


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