VentureTECH sees potential growth in healthcare industry via pathology digitalisation

KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Bernama) -- VentureTECH Sdn Bhd, an investment company for high value-added and emerging industries, is giving more focus on digitalisation of the local healthcare industry, especially in the pathology technology which promises great growth opportunities.

Managing director Dr Norida Abd Rahman said as an impact investor, the company aimed to support, among others the digitisation of Malaysia’s healthcare industry to increase efficiency and ease the rising costs of healthcare delivery.

Ultimately, the objective was to alleviate the burden of medical inflation, borne by both the government and people at large, she said, adding that the company would be investing in the right companies that were capable of delivering both commercial and societal returns. 

“Our drive is to produce locally-bred iconic industry leaders that will contribute to the growth of the local economy and creation of high-skilled jobs while ensuring spillover benefits to the community and the environment,” she told Bernama.

Norida said the company had last year invested in Clinipath (M) Sdn Bhd, one of the leading pathology service providers in the country.

She believed Clinipath, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Bhd, was poised to lead the digitalisation of the pathology market, not only in the country but also at the regional level

“VentureTECH’s investment in a dynamic, forward-looking local company such as Clinipath, to some extent, would help the government in the transformation of the healthcare system to rein in cost, improve quality and expand access to the public,” she added.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Genomics chief operating officer Sasha Nordin said the funds channelled by VentureTECH were utilised, among others, to upgrade information system for its laboratories.

“We are the first lab in the region to invest in a technology that will take microscope slides and digitize it at an extremely high resolution so that our doctors can look at it on a larger screen,” he explained.

However, he said, despite the technological advancement in the country, Malaysians must first prioritise their health and learn to fully appreciate the costs as it is inevitably still growing. 

“We are very lucky in Malaysia because the public healthcare system is still largely subsidised, but as rakyat, we have a responsibility to make sure that it (the subsidy) can continue, and the way we make sure of that is to stay as healthy as possible,” he added.

The fourth-largest pathology service provider in Malaysia, Clinipath is one of the six pathology labs registered under the ‘Peduli Kesihatan’ scheme, a government health-related programme targeting the lower-income B40 group in the country.

“There’s a general rule in medicine that the earlier you catch something, the cheaper it is to deal with, and the higher your chances of resolving it, therein lies the justification for health screening,” he explained.

-- BERNAMA