Malaysia has been popular for its healthcare tourism due to the affordable quality care for the peace of mind of healthcare travelers. However, the COVID-19 outbreak did disrupt the Malaysian Healthcare market. Prior to lockdown, the healthcare industry was booming particularly healthcare tourism in Malaysia and its surrounding. After the lockdown, the industry witnessed almost 40-60% down in the revenue. “Most of our customers’ revenues were affected as patients were reluctant to go to hospitals and for those hospitals that their mainstream of income largely depends on foreign patients,” said Kenneth Kee, CEO at Origin Integrated Studios.
Origin Integrated Studios is one of the excelling private healthcare technology provider for developing innovative and creative software solutions for Malaysia and its regions. It is one of the very few software development companies which focus on enterprise systems for the healthcare industry. Kenneth has leveraged his exceptional industry experience to craft the ground-breaking products along with a team of expert software developers.
Accurate and Efficient Product Portfolio
Over the years, Origin has pioneered in its EMR services and gained popularity across the sector despite the competitors in the market. Origin Electronic Medical Record (Origin EMR) is the flagship product of Origin, along with the Origin Hospital Information System (Origin HIS). These two products have been crafted with over a decade of industry experience, and have high adoption rates amongst the doctors and nurses. The USP of these products has been its accuracy and efficiency. Origin’s products are reliable and secure as they have been put on a stringent test by the hospital quality management team to be certified by an external auditor for hospital process flow.
New Addition to the Product Range
Apart from the flagship products, Origin did add few more services to its portfolio as the COVID-19 outbreak demanded a special approach. Due to the outbreak, several hospitals were forced to seek telehealth solutions to serve the patients from home which is reluctant to visits the hospital. Thus, Origin integrated its solutions to an external mobile appointment system to facilitate the patients in direct online banking payment. Utilizing this exclusive offering from their end, patients can now make payment after teleconsultation for consultation services and medication to be delivered at their doorsteps.
In addition to this, Origin is looking forward to launching the new services comprising of specialized modules for ‘home nursing’ and ‘nursing home,’ also known as the Assisted Living concept. Home nursing is not a novel service in the market however, currently, the demand for nursing services at home has relatively augmented. Consequently, Kenneth also anticipates a relative growth in this market vertical because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Furthermore, because of the lockdown and movement restrictions, the team adapted to the new norm of remote working. Kenneth and his team not just adjusted to remote working but were successful in finalizing an overseas project. “Now we have done it and we believe that it is possible for our business to grow across the border even without being there physically,” asserts Kenneth.
A Wholesomely Trustable Leader
A notable trait of a healthcare leader is to be trustable wholesomely in thinking ahead for patient safety at all times. Being a customer-centric organization, Kenneth has always retained customer satisfaction with the utmost importance. Kenneth’s primary role is to lead the team in solving customer’s problems and concluding to satisfactory outcomes. Under his supervision the team works closely with the customers, providing cost-effective solutions suitable for their needs. Likewise, offer on-going technical and consultancy support. Kenneth has been successful in building a reliable team that continually aims to grow. He adds, “As a team, we grow and face the challenges of modern times together.”
Discovering New Strategies and Plans
“As the COVID-19 situation was getting worse before the lockdown, I instructed all my staff not to come to the office and start working from home,” said Kenneth. However, few of the employees were still in the midst of implementing a project at the customer’s site. Keeping the welfare of the team members as a priority, Kenneth halted all the on-site projects. Nevertheless, being an IT company remotely serving the clients—especially from the healthcare industry—was possible through the internet. The only challenge that the team encountered during the lockdown was the delay of the ongoing projects. “We were not able to conduct acceptance test and trial run in our preparation to go-live of our system as planned,” asserts Kenneth.
After the lockdown was lifted, the company resumed its operations. Few of the personnel were reluctant to work given the fear and uncertainty. Thus, Kenneth gave these team members additional time to adjust to the new normal and be back to the office. Despite the lifted restrictions, the construction industry was still managing the effects of a slowdown which as a consequence affected the progress of building new hospitals, therefore, the team of Origin focused on R&D and clearing off backlogs. In the meantime, the team discovered new strategies and plans to adapt to the new normal. Kenneth believes that rather than mourning for the delayed projects and loss of business, it is better to catch up and move ahead of the competitors. He also adds a word of advice for the aspirants, “If you determine and resilient, you will find a way and get through it.”
What could have been better?
The healthcare industry has altered as compared to the traditional healthcare industry. Today, almost everyone is reachable using a smartphone. The developments in the mobile applications have been tremendous with each day thousands of app is being created across the globe. Reasoning these advancements’, Kenneth believes that the mobile technology provider should have been more ready in assisting the government to fight the pandemic through introducing a national patient portal before even it turns into such a devastating state. Furthermore, he adds, “In the interest of national security and for the economy of the country, it makes economic sense for the government to enforce traceable movement of each mobile user and also lockdown only to those affected zones fast and effectively.”
