Here’s how patients can ultimately benefit from healthcare IT innovations

Dato’ Amiruddin Abdul Satar, President of KPJ Healthcare Berhad, believes IT could lead to faster and more efficient delivery of healthcare services.

Before being appointed as the President and Managing Director of KPJ Healthcare Berhad in January 2013, Dato’ Amiruddin Abdul Satar has held numerous positions in the company since 1993 in the areas of hospital operations, finance, and various senior management functions such as strategic planning and investment decisions of KPJ.

An alumnus of Henley Business School, University of Reading in the UK where he obtained his Masters in Business Administration, Dato’ Amiruddin is also a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), and has gained significant experience in finance and accountancy.

He is also the Vice President of the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM), where he is on the forefront of the development of the Malaysian healthcare sector.

Dato’ Amiruddin is part of the panel that will talk about the topic IT as the key to survival for Asia’s hospitals at the Kuala Lumpur leg of the upcoming inaugural Healthcare Asia Forum 2016. Here’s more about Dato’ Amiruddin:

HCA: What are your previous experiences and positions held that contributed to who you are today as a health care practitioner?

I am fortunate to be working for KPJ in many portfolios. I was involved in the areas of hospital operations, finance and various senior management at KPJ such as strategic planning and investment decisions. My last post prior to my current designation is the Chief Operating Officer where I was entrusted to assist the then Managing Director to oversee the operational side of KPJ.

Before joining KPJ Healthcare Berhad, I gained significant experience as an Accountant and Finance Manager of several large and reputable organisations in the country.

Even though I am not a healthcare practitioner by training, the experience garnered over these 20 odd years at KPJ from my association with the medical consultants has given me invaluable knowledge on healthcare. Combining my training as an Accountant and experience at KPJ has helped me to understand better the healthcare industry and how best to deliver quality healthcare services to KPJ patients whilst still being cost-efficient.

HCA: What are your key healthcare philosophies and ideologies?

I strongly subscribe to the 5 core values of KPJ which is Safety, Courtesy, Integrity, Professionalism and Continuous Improvement. These 5 values are the pillars to KPJ vision to be the preferred healthcare provider.

Excellent total patient experience is also our goal. In delivering quality healthcare services, we at KPJ strive to ensure that patients leave our hospitals in better health and satisfied with our services. We do not compromise in the quality of healthcare services provided and aim to have our own set of benchmarks to be emulated in the healthcare industry in the country for the improvement and betterment of the same.

HCA: Can you give us a glimpse of what you will talk about at the 2016 Healthcare Asia Forum?

As one of the panelists, I will discussing on the IT advances in the healthcare industry, current and in the near future. I believe that the healthcare industry can benefit much more from the use of information technology (IT). Faster and more efficient services can be delivered and human error can be eliminated with the involvement of the latest gadgets. The patients will be the ones to benefit most from this advancement.