Malaysia Ringgit strenghtened against the USD



Malaysia’s ringgit strengthened today as a rally in crude oil prices brightened the prospects for the region’s only major net oil exporter.

The ringgit led the advance in Southeast Asian currencies as global funds returned to emerging markets after the US Federal Reserve signaled a gradual approach to raising interest rates.

Brent crude extended a recovery from a 12-year low reached in January, auguring well for a nation that derives 22 percent of government revenue from oil-related sources.

“A dovish Fed, supportive oil prices, stabilizing market sentiment and decent interest in local currency bonds” spurred the ringgit’s gains this month, said Christopher Wong, foreign-exchange strategist at Malayan Banking Bhd. in Singapore.

The ringgit strengthened 0.6 percent today, 30-03-2016, and 5.8 percent in March to 3.9715 a dollar as of 9:35 a.m in Kuala Lumpur, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.

The currency is set for its biggest monthly advance since September 1998.

Overseas investors are returning to Malaysian assets after a 35 percent slump in Brent crude last year spurred the ringgit’s biggest annual loss since 1997. The yield on 10-year Government bonds declined nine basis points this month to 3.85 percent and was little changed on Wednesday.

The benchmark equities gauge has advanced 4.2 percent in March, and is up 1.8 percent for the year as global funds bought 4.45 billion ringgit ($1.12 billion) of the nation’s stocks in 2016 after 19.5 billion ringgit of outflows last year, according to data from MIDF Investment Bank.  
/Bloomberg 30-03-2016






Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.


Post a Comment

Malaysia targets RM1.3 bil for medical tourism in 2016



The Malaysian Health Ministry is targeting RM1.3bil in medical tourism in 2016
Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said his ministry spends RM20mil a year to promote and develop medical tourism, and “since the beneficiary is the private sector, we want their participation” in pushing the agenda. “Eventually, we want the sector to take full ownership,” he said in his keynote address at the ASLI Healthcare Forum 2016 yesterday.
Last year, medical tourists spent RM900 mil on treatments at private hospitals, which did not include their holiday spending.
There were 850,000 such tourists last year and more than half were from Indonesia. The others were from India, China, Japan, Britain, Africa and the Middle East.                                                                                 /theSTAR 30-03-2016
Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.


Post a Comment

New Entrant into Pharmacy space



Private equity firm Creador is allocating RM100mil in its venture into the pharmacy retail business through RedCap Pharmacy.

Founder and CEO of Creador Brahmal Vasudevan had on Tuesday unveiled plans to grow the chain into a major national player.

He added as the Malaysian consumer becomes more sophisticated, there would be increasing healthcare needs and retail pharmacies will play an important role serving this need.

“Based on our estimates, the Malaysia pharmacy space is still fairly "under penetrated". Creador sees an exciting opportunity for us to invest in and create a modern retail pharmacy offering world class experience for our customers. We have set aside RM100mil to support RedCap’s growth,” he said.
In phase one, Creador acquired D’Apotic Pharmacy last April as the platform to grow this investment. 
For phase two, Creador teamed up with Ian Cruddas, who was instrumental in building some of the large retail chains in Malaysia. 

“Together with our management team, Creador is committed to drive this transformation, leveraging on our experience in partnering with entrepreneurs across our key markets to build RedCap into a world class business,” added Vasudevan. 

Other successful consumer brands that Creador has invested in Malaysia include Old Town White Coffee, Bonia, GHL and CTOS. 
/theSTAR 17-03-2016

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Post a Comment

KPJ Group adds more Hospitals



KPJ Healthcare Bhd will spend RM1.294bil to build eight hospitals in several towns over the next few years, its president and managing director Datuk Amiruddin Abdul Satar said. 


The new hospitals, including the Bandar Dato’ Onn Specialist Hospital in Johor Baru, KPJ Klang Bayuemas Specialist, Melaka Specialist Hospital and Port Dickson Specialist Hospital, are expected to be ready in 2018 and 2019. 

The proposed hospitals will add 1,210 more beds to the group, bringing the total to 4,110 from 2,900 in 2015. 

KPJ Healthcare will also open two new hospitals this year, one each in Pahang and Perlis costing RM182mil which is set to open in the second quarter of this year while another in Perlis in the third quarter respectively.


/theSTAR 17-03-2016

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Post a Comment

Pharmacists Population



As of 22 February 2016, there are 20 local universities (with 26 programmes) approved by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and recognised by the Malaysian Pharmacy Board (MPB) to offer Pharmacy Degrees.

With 1200 graduates annually, there are currently 13,549 registered pharmacists and this figure contributes to the ratio of 1:2306 pharmacists to population. It is expected that Malaysia will reach the ratio of 1:2000 by the end of year 2016 as recommended by the WHO.


From the overall total, 55% are currently in the public sector.

Based on the capacity of the local universities, MPB has set the ratio of lecturer to student and clinical lecturer to student at 1:10 and 1:8 respectively. Hence, the student intake of 1,200 yearly for the pharmacy degree programme.


In view of the limited training facilities in the public sector and rising need in the private sector, policy on liberalisation of Provisionally Registered Pharmacist (PRP) Training in private sector was introduced in 2012.


Pharmacy graduates are allowed to carry out the one year PRP training at any of the following private facilities approved by MPB viz 149 community pharmacies, 10 private hospitals, 16 pharmaceutical manufacturing factories, one university facility and seven R&D facilities under Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA). 

Even though liberalisation of PRP training has been implemented, pharmacy graduates still prefer to undergo PRP training in the public facilities. This is mainly due to more attractive salary being offered, with better career pathway and more intensive clinical training in the public sector.


Therefore, PRP training in the public facilities are more popular while there are less pharmacy graduates who opted to undergo PRP training in the private facilities.

As a result, it is perceived that there is an oversupply of pharmacy graduates from both local and overseas higher learning institutions. 

However, if the intake of pharmacy student is not controlled with a suitable quota, there may be an oversupply of pharmacists in the near future.


Moratorium on pharmacy undergraduate program is now being considered to prevent too many universities from offering the pharmacy programs locally.

The number of pharmacy students who intend to complete their pharmacy programmes overseas are to be monitored and must fulfil the minimum entry requirement as stipulated by MPB. This is to ensure the quality of all registered pharmacists in Malaysia.

/MPB 24-02-2016

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Post a Comment

Dentists: Limited Vancancies for Training



There are not enough vacancies for dentists to fill in public hospitals.

Health Ministry (MOH) director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said they were aware and concerned about the plight of dentistry degree holders who faced delays in getting training placements. 

He said one of the measures taken to address the problem was ending the services of non-Malaysian dental officers or those who had been re-hired after retirement to make way for new graduates.

There is a moratorium on increasing new intakes, effective from 2013 to 2018, which also limits the number of local students to 800 a year.

Dr Noor Hisham said new positions for dental officers had been created in phases.

“This year, a total of 391 new posts in grade U41 and 300 contract positions are being created to facilitate the placement for local dental graduates who had not been appointed."

Dr Noor Hisham said discussions were being held with all stakeholders, including the private sector, to resolve the issue of placement of dental officers.

Under the Dental Act, graduates need to complete a mandatory one-year service in the public sector, which may be in MOH, the Higher Education Ministry or the Ministry of Defence, with the majority or 95% completing their service in MOH.

However, Dr Noor Hisham pointed out that 99% of positions for dental officers in MOH were filled and the situation was made worse due to low attrition of 8% in 2015.

Last year, 980 graduates registered with the Malaysian Dental Council. Of these, 504 got placements in MOH but 476 had been waiting between six and nine months, and are still waiting because there are only 87 vacancies.

Dr Noor Hisham said overseas dental graduates, who had almost doubled in recent years, were among the main contributors to the overall increase. There were 245 in 2013 compared to 482 last year.

But he said this increase did not mean there was a glut in the profession. Dr Noor Hisham said the ratio of dental practitioners to the current population of 1:3000 would only be reached in 2018.

He said the construction and development of facilities at MOH would be reviewed to cut short delays for getting placements.

/theSTAR 07-03-2016


Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Post a Comment