Four hundred and fifty members of the Care Clinics family filled the ballroom tonight. Doctors, nurses, clinic assistants and the teams who work quietly behind the scenes. Most of them spend their days on the front line of primary care in Malaysia. Tonight was their night.
Tan Sri Dato' Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman, former Director General of Health Malaysia, graced the evening as Guest of Honour. But the address by Care Clinics CEO Datuk Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo, better known as Datuk Dr Arasu, was not a victory lap. It was a statement of standards.
Growth is not the same as success
Care Clinics now runs more than 200 clinics. Most organisations would lead with that number. Datuk Dr Arasu barely paused on it.
Growth alone is not success. Clinical governance must lead, and corporate governance must follow.
It is a clear order of priorities. As the network grows, he said, quality, patient safety and clinical standards must grow with it. The culture he described is simple to say and hard to live: when there is a problem, face it, take responsibility, learn and improve.
From “we treated you” to “you got better”
The biggest idea of the night was value based healthcare.
It is no longer enough to say that we treated a patient. We must increasingly be able to show whether our patients are actually getting better.
Over time, Care Clinics intends to measure and publish its patient outcomes and hold itself accountable for the quality of its care. Very few primary care groups in this region make that kind of commitment in public. If they follow through, it could reset what Malaysian patients expect from their GP.
He also thanked Sumitomo Corporation, Care Clinics' major shareholder and partner, and Mr Hiroshima personally for his strong support and confidence in Care Clinics. Their involvement, he said, has strengthened the group's corporate governance, discipline and long term planning.
Doing what is unpopular to do what is right
He was refreshingly candid about the group's digital transformation.
I know many are very unhappy with me when we did the digital transformation. But sometimes you have to do what is not popular to do the right things.
He thanked the doctors and clinic teams who worked through the disruption, and the internal team that delivered it. And he was clear about what technology is for: it must support doctors and staff, not burden them, and ultimately help deliver safer, better, more connected care.
Healthcare is an ecosystem
“None of this can be done by Care Clinics alone,” he said, acknowledging the hospitals, payors, laboratories, pharmaceutical and medical device partners and patient organisations in the room. “Each of us plays a different role, but ultimately we are serving the same patient.”
A first step beyond Malaysia
The evening also saw Care Clinics sign an MOU with a Singapore based GP group that shares its values: strong primary care, patient centred care, quality and long term sustainability.
Four years ago, Datuk Dr Arasu promised that by 2026 Care Clinics would go global. He called the AcuMed MOU a small but meaningful first step, with Asia Pacific set to be an important part of the group's growth.
Wherever we go, our foundation must remain the same: our people, our patients and our standards.
Next year, 1,000
He closed with an announcement that brought the house down. Next year's dinner is planned for 1,000 colleagues, and with a grin he admitted the team would now have to find the budget for it.
Tonight belongs to all of you. We came a long way. We still have much to improve, and we have an exciting journey ahead of us.
The DocTok take
Plenty of healthcare groups talk about growth. Far fewer are willing to stand in front of 450 of their own people and say they will publish their patient outcomes and be judged on them. That is the bar Care Clinics has set for itself. DocTok Asia will be watching the journey.
Follow Care Clinics on Instagram (@careclinics_hq) and AcuMed Medical Group (@acumedmedicalgroup).
