06-Mar-17 IHH Healthcare, Asia's largest hospital operator by market value, has sold a USD160 mn stake in Apollo Hospitals in a deal that will consolidate its investments in India. It operates >10,000 beds in 52 hospitals across 10 countries, with Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and India making up most of its MYR10 bn (USD2.2 bn) revenue in 2016. [image: The Economic Times]

06-Mar-17 In 2014 Russia was the most important source of medical travelers to Germany with about 9,800 inpatients. In 2015, however, the German medical tourism industry recorded a decline of 32 percent for Russian patients. The reason was most likely the EU's economic actions against Russia in the wake of the Crimean annexation. Treatments became quite costly for Russian travelers. [image: Tourism Review]

05-Mar-17 With India becoming a popular destination for medical tourism, Mengaluru is joining the trend. Efficiency, low costs and state-of-the-art hospitals are making the city a sought after destination. KMC Hospital has seen a sharp increase in international patients. Over the past 10 months, KMC catered to >100 international patients from the Middle East, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kenya, UK and US. [image: The Times Of India]

05-Mar-17 Indonesia’s healthcare insurance scheme is struggling to gain traction. Poor services at public hospitals and the difficulty of accessing care across the vast archipelago are factors, but abuse of the scheme by hospitals and fraud by users are also to blame. The number of people benefiting from the scheme may be less than official figures claim. [image: FT Confidentail Research]

04-Mar-17 Philippine conglomerate Ayala is planning 500-bed general hospitals in suburbs of Manila, aiming to streamline healthcare services by integrating large facilities with a network of small clinics. QualiMed's first flagship hospital will open no later than 2019. A second large hospital will be added around 2021. QualiMed eventually aims to deploy the hospital-clinic business model in the Visayas and Mindanao. [image: Nikkei Asian Review]