Qualitas Medical Group clinches two wins at Healthcare Asia Awards 2021

Made great strides COVID-19 home testing even as the world was still figuring out how to deal with the pandemic.

Qualitas Medical Group has always been at the forefront of quality global healthcare. Established in 1997, they own and operate one of the largest integrated networks of general practice, allied health and specialist clinics in the world. Furthermore, their commitment to make healthcare accessible for everyone has resulted in more than 250 medical centres across South East Asia and the Asia Pacific region. 

By striving to deliver highly-accessible medical services while sustaining quality healthcare, Qualitas remains steadfast in providing quality primary healthcare to communities across Asia Pacific. This commitment was further reinforced during the COVID-19 outbreak that reached pandemic proportions in March 2020.

Acutely aware of their responsibility to carry their frontline role through their wide network of GP clinics across Malaysia, where communities have come to rely on its doctors and healthcare staff to provide reliable diagnosis and treatment, Qualitas took the initiative not just to play its part, but to lead the country in their COVID-19 testing. 

When there is a communicable disease outbreak, the definitive response is for testing to begin early. This leads to quick identification of cases, rapid treatment of patients and immediate isolation to prevent its spread. Testing also plays a major part in the bigger picture of public health – in mitigation efforts, helping investigators characterise the prevalence, spread and contagiousness of the disease. Ultimately, testing reduces the enormous burden on public and private clinical facilities in treating positive cases. 

Due to its decades-long role as a healthcare company, Qualitas Medical Group was able to immediately strengthen its existing facilities within its network, upscaling quickly to cope with the pandemic, including being able to access adequate testing kits, laboratory time and by deploying doctors, nurses and auxiliary medical teams across the nation. 

One such effort by Qualitas was the Ministry of Health sanctioned home sampling that began as early as March 2020, even as the rest of the world was still trying to figure out the best way to deal with the pandemic. With the success of home sampling came the need to test on a larger scale.  As the demand for testing rose, Qualitas embarked on programmes to empower more healthcare staff. One such programme was the ‘Earn As You Learn’ programme where Qualitas trained fresh medical school graduates to assist in the COVID-19 testing team as part of their on-the-ground training. 

Milestones were achieved for Qualitas when COVID-19 screening was carried out for various industries such as construction, manufacturing, information technology and FMCG. The massive on-site testing once again demonstrated the agility and efficiency of Qualitas, key elements in tackling a public health crisis. Furthermore, Qualitas’ southern team went the distance as they took on the task of carrying out testing for personnel in offshore vessels.

These efforts have led Qualitas to stand out amongst other healthcare leaders and win two accolades at the Healthcare Asia Awards 2021. As the winners of the Primary Care Provider of the Year and Covid Management Initiative of the Year, Healthcare Asia lauds Qualitas' level of professionalism, passion and care for their patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hear from the group's executive chairman, Dr. Noorul Ameen Ishak, and chief business development officer, Dr. Junaidi Ismail, as they discuss how the team is committed to respond quickly to the adversity during the COVID-19 pandemic and become an established healthcare company that provides reliable diagnosis and treatment to the community in Malaysia.