We’re about to release a Special Report on healthcare investment in Asia.
The report will provide a detailed overview of the dynamics, trends and opportunities in the healthcare markets of eight hugely important countries in the region: China, India, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
As is to be expected from an HBI report, the primary focus is on healthcare services, but there is also discussion of major trends and investment opportunities in medtech and biopharma.
One of the most interesting things about looking at private healthcare markets across different countries is how dissimilar business models can be, and even how different the concept of what private healthcare is can be, especially when comparing emerging markets to developed European ones.
The country where this contrast is most stark is India, where many operators’ business models are focused on providing care efficiently, at low cost and with low margins to the widest demographic possible, rather than premium services to those who can afford it.
Abrar Mir, who co-founded the PE firm Quadria capital, put it thus: “The provision of private healthcare in Asia isn't about providing a premium service to a select few. It's about actually building business models that are scalable, that reduce the price of high quality care and therefore increase access to even the most vulnerable. And that's a very unique Asian thing. Very different to the US and Europe where private care is associated with chandeliers, Picasso paintings, and marble floors. That is not the case in Asia.”
Related to this is another interesting contrast: the governments of Asian countries generally don’t see private healthcare operators and investors as a politically risky oddity, or as something harmful or dangerous that needs to be contained. Most are trying to actively encourage much-needed private investment into their healthcare systems.
China is the most prominent example here, having opened up nine key regions to foreign direct investment into hospitals last year. Regulatory barriers and political risk are still an issue of course, but the general intention of policy makers is encouraging.
A third interesting point of comparison is to consider the earlier phase of development that most of these markets for healthcare services are in, and how much greater the opportunities therefore are, to those willing to take on risk.
A Thai former healthcare executive commented to us: “Europe should look outward and see how many countries are like Europe was 30–40 years ago, and so what has been done successfully there could be tried in Thailand. It’s not exactly the same, of course; they’ll have to adapt the way they operate. But by entering a new country there may be lessons they can bring back. The world is a big global village, with big cultural differences between countries, but this creates big opportunities.”
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