Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Share-Hope Medicine to work with Penghu Hospital and cooperate on cardiovascular medicine services.

Share-Hope Medicine (8403) officially announced that it will cooperate with Peng-Hu Hospital (operated by the Department of Health) in providing cardiovascular medicine services to the hospital.

Based on an internal information source, the cooperation agreement also calls for other large-scale projects in developing phases. The news is expected to boost the profits of Share-Hope Medicine since the profit margin for medical specialty services exceeds 30%, or twice the business average. Last year, medical specialty services accounted for 6.17% of Share-Hope Medicine revenues, a figure which according to a consensus forecast is set to grow to 10% thanks to the increase in profit margin associated with this type of services (33.5% last year).

The project, officially launched March 1st 2011, is Share-Hope’s first medical specialty joint venture, and its first operation site outside the Taiwan mainland. According to Share-Hope Medicine, the venture with Penghu hospital and other future large-scale projects will be beneficial to the company and contribute to its profitability.

Ninety thousand people live in Peng-Hu County, an archipelago of more than 60 islands located in the Taiwan Straits. Medical resources have historically been limited and Peng-Hu Hospital has received less support from the Department of Health than similar hospitals in Taiwan. Emergency and critical care patients are invariably evacuated to Taiwan’s main-island, which delays the treatment of these patients. According to the census of the Department of Health, total medical expenses related to cardiovascular diseases were around 170 million last year in the county. Nevertheless, there isn’t currently adequate cardiovascular specialty equipment on the islands. Penghu Hospital is the largest hospital in Peng-Hu County, and this cooperation agreement with ShareHope will make it the only hospital in the county to provide cardiovascular medical care. With this agreement Share Hope wants to strengthen the availability and quality of healthcare for the population and visitors of Penghu.

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