By Chester Tay

IHH Healthcare Bhd. swung to a net loss in the first quarter, dragged by a goodwill impairment on subsidiary Ravindranath GE Medical Associates Pte. and foreign-exchange losses.

IHH's net loss was 319.8 million ringgit ($74.5 million), while revenue was MYR3.56 billion, down 2.4% from a year earlier, the hospital operator said in a stock-exchange filing Monday.

The Malaysia-listed group expects higher costs of operations from supply-chain disruptions caused by Covid-19 and wage inflation from continuing competition for skilled healthcare workers in its home markets.

Given the slowdown in patient volumes brought about by the pandemic, the group said it reviewed its capital expenditure to defer purchases and capital-expansion projects that are non-critical.

With the gradual easing of movement restrictions that started in June, local patient volumes have started to recover, it said.

IHH Healthcare expects the progressive recovery to continue, barring disruptions from subsequent waves of Covid-19 outbreaks and the potential renewal of lockdowns.

Write to Chester Tay at chester.tay@wsj.com