Malaysian Sets An Australian First In E-Health And Family Medicine

By Neville DCruz MELBOURNE (Australia), May 22 (Bernama) -- What began as a modest investment in a community health idea for Malaysian-born entrepreneur Maha Sinnathamby has now ballooned into a multi-billion dollar revolution in the way medical and health services are provided. The founder behind Australia's biggest and fastest emerging new city of Greater Springfield located west of Brisbane originally master-planned local healthcare as a way of attracting people to his future city. It worked and it has attracted tens of thousands of new residents and a personal fortune. "I went around the world and looked at 15 cities and areas of urbanisation and decided that if I was going to build a city on my own I'd better provide decent healthcare as well as education and information technology," said Maha who believes that it is the combination of the three that are key to sustaining a population. That was 23 years ago and according to Maha the city concept came to him when he saw a 2,860ha parcel of abandoned forest doing nothing. He bought the property for A$7 million and with a bit of clever thinking has turned it into a multi-billion dollar venture. "I got people interested in helping me follow this dream of being part of a truly modern and sustainable city," he told Bernama. "I made sure that I kept plenty of land for things other than houses like schools, police stations and other services. "It needed a hospital so I decided to try to deliver a new revolution in health care as a personal legacy." Maha who is since risen to billionaire status on the back of more than a$11.7 billion in private and public investment, called in America's prestigious Harvard Medical School to design a fully integrated medical and wellness precinct that could cater for a fast growing city. His 'Health City' Precinct was born and is booming today as it continues to draw huge investment and applause. In November a state of the art cancer care facility and the first stage of a 1,200 approved bed hospital will also open. At the centre of this medical project is an e-medical platform which is powered by his own A$273 million data centre, which is one of the biggest and most protected clouds in the southern hemisphere. "Polaris is its name and it will also be the engine room to assist Health City to link everything including specialist medical centres, day surgeries, diagnostic services, on-site community wellness and fitness outlets, dental, assisted living accommodation, optometry and respite centres in a fully e-medical integrated package," he added. Maha also said aged care facilities are also an important part the Health City regional hub plan. He has plans to build more than 2,500 apartments for the elderly. "By having these kind of facilities and infrastructure you can steer the course of a fast growing city to ensure better inter-generational outcomes for urbanisation," said Maha. Maha Sinnathamby will be a guest speaker on the subject of urbanisation at next week's International Real Estate Federation Congress at One World Hotel in Petaling Jaya, in Malaysia's state of Selangor. --BERNAMA