Date: May 11, 2021
Some of Dr Barry Thng’s earliest memories revolve around doctors and medicine, in particular, the near-magical bottles of syrup prescribed by his family physician, Dr Chan Khye Meng, which helped relieve his many sleepless nights of coughing and wheezing.
“I was very young then, and quite sickly, with bouts of asthma which worsened at night,” recalled the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SGX-listed Alliance Healthcare Group Ltd.
“We lived in Tanglin Halt then, and my mother would carry me on her back to see the neighbourhood doctor, Dr Chan, who was dubbed the “Father of Tanglin Halt”. His two bottles of syrup – which later I realised contained Bricanyl and Ventolin – worked wonders for me.”
Those years made a deep impression on Thng. “As I grew up, I wanted to be like Dr Chan, to have the ability to provide relief and cures to patients,” he added.
In 1991, Thng graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, after which, in 1998, he obtained his Master of Medicine (Family Medicine). Two years later, he received a NUS Graduate Diploma in Family Practice Dermatology. Since 2002 and 2014 respectively, he has been a Fellow of Singapore’s College of Family Physicians and the Academy of Medicine.
“I didn’t really have a grand ambition – all I wanted was to be a competent family doctor, which can be a very valuable resource to patients, and that was why I specialised in Family Medicine,” Thng noted.
“I basically wanted to make a difference, by providing better quality healthcare and improving healthcare delivery to my patients. That was how Alliance Healthcare was born.”
Founded in 1994 and listed on SGX Catalist in 2019, Alliance Healthcare Group is an integrated healthcare group that leverages the use of technology to provide a broad suite of healthcare services in Singapore.
It designs and provides enterprise-level healthcare solutions to meet the demands of organisations, as well as individual patients for reliable and cost-effective healthcare services.
Power of We
Alliance Healthcare has five key business segments: managed healthcare, GP clinics, specialist clinics, pharmaceutical services, as well as mobile and digital health services, all of which are highly complementary, and serve as a base to support the Group’s managed healthcare service network.
For managed healthcare solutions, the Group has arrangements with nine insurers and serves over 3,300 corporations through its network of self-owned clinics and panel of medical services providers, providing outpatient healthcare and treatments at private hospitals.
Alliance Healthcare also operates 16 self-owned GP clinics under the “My Family Clinic” name, as well as five self-owned specialist clinics providing medical diagnosis and medical or surgical treatments of ear, nose and throat (ENT), colorectal and orthopaedic conditions.
In addition, the Group operates a pharmaceutical business engaged in the wholesale distribution of pharmaceutical products to hospitals, pharmacies and clinics in Singapore and overseas.
During the Group’s 26-year growth journey, Thng learnt the importance of teamwork. “I’ve realised that it’s crucial to harness the “Power of We”, rather than going at it alone. There’s only so much that one person can do, and no one has all the answers,” he noted.
“But when you get a team of likeminded people with complementary skillsets, that’s when you can unleash the passion and intrinsic motivation to strive towards a common goal. This is how Alliance Healthcare has grown over the years.”
Looking ahead, the Group has rolled out various initiatives to boost its economic agility, including stepping up the use of technology in the delivery of its healthcare services.
“We embarked on our digitalisation journey two to three years ago, and are now in the process of speeding up our pace of transformation,” Thng said.
Asset-Light Model
In 2020, Alliance Healthcare acquired a 55% interest in Jaga-Me Pte Ltd, an award-winning digital healthcare platform that enables consumers to use a mobile web application to schedule and pay for clinical services, medical equipment and consumables – which are delivered to a patient in the comfort of their homes.
The Group also rolled out a telemedicine platform HeyAlly for contactless healthcare solutions, while its new collaboration with Inova Care aims to expand cashless managed healthcare service coverage for clients in Singapore and the region.
“We are pivoting from a brick-and-mortar healthcare company into one leveraging on digital technologies to develop an asset-light business model,” he noted. “Overall, our mission is to transform healthcare delivery, make quality care more accessible and affordable to individuals and organisations.”
In particular, Jaga-Me – which connects a network of independent medical professionals ranging from nurses to doctors and therapists – has become a flexible and cost-effective way of scaling up and down the Group’s manpower needs, Thng said.
“Our big dream is to use such digital platforms to shift the industry away from institutionalised healthcare and bring caregiving back to the homes of patients, such as those who are undergoing recovery from acute illnesses or at the end stage of their lives, as well as the elderly with debilitating conditions,” he said.
As a result, through Jaga-Me, patients need not make weekly or monthly trips to clinics and/or hospitals – nurses and caregivers can be scheduled to visit patients at home to dispense medicines, injections and other treatments.
“The ideal solution is not to build more nursing homes. No matter how superior that quality of care may be, it cannot be compared with the kind of life that seniors can live through being cared for at home, where they are supported by their doctors, and surrounded by loved ones,” Thng added.
“That, in my opinion, provides a very dignified option to grow old. This is also a particularly pertinent issue in Singapore, given our rapidly ageing population.”
Digitalisation Gains Pace
Digitalisation in healthcare services has also taken on a new and growing significance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen a mixed impact from COVID – while clinic visits and patient volumes have fallen, there has been increased demand for telemedicine, remote queuing systems, e-payment options, as well as other mobile healthcare services,” Thng said.
“We expect to see an accelerated adoption and increased utilisation of technology in all avenues of healthcare services, and this shift from on-site to virtual and off-site medical services will continue beyond the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, as part of the Group’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts, Alliance Healthcare remains focused on its commitment to data privacy and cybersecurity, equality and diversity in the workplace, as well as employee training and development.
In particular, the issue of discovering and retaining talent is a rather challenging one, Thng admitted. “There’s very strong competition in the industry for qualified talent. At the end of the day, although many of those who join us have to take a pay cut, they are willing to come on board because they share our vision, values and goals.”
And for this 54-year-old father of a daughter and two sons, aged 18 to 24, family time is a priority whenever he is out of the office.
“I try not to preach to my kids – they find me very naggy if I do that,” he said with a laugh. “Instead I try to lead by example – the kids see what you do and say all the time – there’s no way you can hide your true self from them.”
Thng prefers the open and honest approach – sharing his worries, fears and difficulties with his children, in the hopes that they will learn – together with him – how to overcome challenges.
“I also tell them that it’s important to have goals – worthwhile goals – and take concrete actions to achieve those goals,” he added.
“At the same time, it’s important not to define success too narrowly – even if you do not reach all your goals, you are still becoming a better person, so there’s no need to be too harsh on yourself.”
Alliance Healthcare Group Ltd
Founded in 1994, Alliance Healthcare is an integrated healthcare group that leverages the use of technology to provide a broad suite of healthcare services primarily in Singapore. The Group designs and provides enterprise-level healthcare solutions to meet the demands of organisations as well as individual patients for reliable and cost-effective healthcare services. The Group’s business comprises five key segments: managed healthcare solutions, GP clinics services, specialist care services, pharmaceutical services and mobile and digital health services. For managed healthcare solutions, the Group has arrangements with insurers and serves corporations through its Alliance Healthcare Network of self-owned clinics and panel of medical services providers, who offer outpatient healthcare and treatment at private hospitals. The Group also operates 16 self-owned GP clinics, operating under the “My Family Clinic” brand name, as well as five self-owned specialist clinics providing medical diagnosis and medical or surgical treatments for ENT, colorectal and orthopaedic conditions. In addition, the Group operates a pharmaceutical business engaged in the wholesale distribution of pharmaceutical products to hospitals, pharmacies and clinics in Singapore and overseas.
The company website is: www.alliancehealthcare.com.sg
Click here for the company’s StockFacts page.
For the half year ended 31 December 2020 financial results, click here.
First published on SGX website on 7 May 2021
About kopi-C: the Company brew
Text: Jennifer Tan-Stanisic
Photo: Company file
kopi-C is a regular column on the SGX Research website that features C-level executives of leading companies listed on Singapore Exchange. These interviews are profiles of senior management aimed at helping investors better understand the individuals who run these corporations.
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