16-Dec-15 Singapore-based Parkway Pantai, one of Asia's largest healthcare providers, is planning huge healthcare capacities in India, challenging leaders like Apollo and Fortis. Parkway, owned by the Malaysian sovereign fund-backed IHH Healthcare, is planning to add up to 5,000 beds in the next two years, half of this in India, said Dr Tan See Leng, managing director of Parkway and IHH. [image: Business Today]

16-Dec-15 AstraZeneca aims to build up its already strong position in China by making and developing more medicines locally, and will invest more than USD800 mn in the country over the next 10 years. The British drugmaker's decision to step up investment, notably through a strategic alliance with WuXi AppTec, chimes with Beijing's desire to see more treatments made in China. [image: China Daily]

15-Dec-15 Ovitz Corporation, a startup that develops portable devices to check eyes, is set to support developing countries. Kim Joung-yoon, CEO of Ovitz, said “There are 4.5 billion people across the globe in need of visual correction, and 80% of cases are preventable... However, it is actually very difficult for the disadvantaged in developing countries to get proper eye exams." [image: Business Korea]

15-Dec-15 Japan's government will begin developing a new communications service to facilitate the transportation of patients to core hospitals in times of disaster. The move comes after it was found that many core disaster medical centers were not equipped with satellite data communications systems, potentially causing problems if they had to accept patients after a major disaster. [image: The Yomiuri Shimbun]

15-Dec-15 Despite recording gains in recent years, India continues to lag several health indicators such as mortality rates and malnutrition. A paper in The Lancet identifies seven structural problems: 1. A weak primary healthcare; 2. Unequally distributed human resources; 3. Large unregulated private sector; 4. Low public spending; 5. Fragmented information systems; 6. Irrational drug use and spiralling cost; 7. Weak governance and accountability. [image: Hindustan Times]