Health Management International (HMI Group) and Siemens Healthineers entered into a 5-year strategic partnership to advance healthcare delivery in Southeast Asia. As part of this first-of-its-kind partnership in the region, HMI Group will invest over SGD 32 million to roll out innovative medical technologies and digitalisation platforms, enhance clinical education and further develop Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in the key clinical areas of cancer, neuroscience and cardiovascular diseases. This investment is a key component of the HMI Group's ongoing expansion initiatives across StarMed Specialist Centre in Singapore and tertiary hospitals in Malaysia -- Mahkota Medical Centre (Mahkota) in Melaka and Regency Specialist Hospital (Regency) in Johor.

Singapore's comprehensive ecosystem brings local and international players together to harness global trends of digital healthcare transformation and improving access to care. HMI Group's prominence as a leading regional private healthcare services provider, coupled with Siemens Healthineers medtech expertise, together can contribute to a healthy society and healthcare ecosystem, enhancing Singapore's position as a regional healthcare and digital hub. As part of the pioneer cohort of Enterprise Singapore (ESG)'s Scale-up SG programme, HMI Group has made significant strides in digital transformation and community engagement to accelerate growth.

Acquiring new capabilities through this partnership demonstrates HMI Group's pursuit to unleash healthcare innovation to spur growth, develop higher value-added services and venture into new markets. Tackling NCDs in Southeast Asia: About 62% of all deaths in Southeast Asia are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer, cardiovascular disorders (CVD) and diabetes. According to WHO, about 74% of all deaths in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are caused by NCDs[ii].

Early detection and tailored treatment using innovative technologies, while enhancing clinical knowledge, is becoming significantly important to address the rise in incidences of NCDs. The further development of CoEs in the clinical areas of cancer, neuroscience and cardiovascular diseases, is part of HMI Group's plans to deepen the use of digital health, big data and precision diagnosis, to transform how care is delivered and experienced. Especially now, given that countries are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the burden of NCDs on the ageing population.

In 2035, the percentage of the population of Singapore above the age of 65 years was forecasted to reach 25.9%. Development of CoEs will require growing specialist talents within the region. Subsequently, HMI Group is looking at recruiting and developing local talents in the fields of clinical, allied health and hospital management, to meet the ever-evolving demand of patient care.

Siemens Healthineers global consulting and clinical team, along with HMI Group will enhance the skills of this talent pool by training and knowledge transfer on the latest technologies and digital platforms. Singapore has always been in the forefront of embracing digital health solutions. Digital technologies will play an increasingly important role in addressing challenges like improving access and quality of care. Leveraging long-term partnerships supports in providing more holistic care in a patient's journey with the adoption of digitalization.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), remote monitoring, telehealth, are some of the current and future trends in the healthcare industry, which will be part of the CoE development at HMI Group. Siemens Healthineers Biomatrix technology supported by AI in its MRI scanner, will allow scanning of every patient type by automatically adjusting to each individual patient, resulting in a higher diagnostic confidence, fewer rescans and more predictable scheduling. With its teamplay performance management applications and healthcare consulting services, HMI Group will be able to make quick and well-informed decisions to further improve the overall patient journey by eliminating bottlenecks like patient waiting times and quick reporting, among others.

This collaboration with HMI Group is a long-term Value Partnership. This partnership model with Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers to optimize business processes, expand capabilities, and advance innovation. It spans on the entire Siemens Healthineers portfolio, to generate added value above and beyond equipment itself.

Value Partnerships are designed to fit the customer's needs entirely. Siemens Healthineers has formed Value Partnerships with many healthcare providers around the world. The latest examples include Hamilton Health Sciences in Canada, the University of Missouri System in the USA, Dallah Health Company in Saudi Arabia and Braunschweig Municipal Hospital in Germany.