The CEO of international health insurer and services group Bupa is stepping down at the age of 55 and being succeeded by an internal appointment. We ask why and look at the group's H1 results.
BIMA, an insurance and telehealth platform working in nine emerging markets, has raised $30m to increase penetration in those markets. It already has 35m insurance policies and has run 2m teleconsultations. HBI speaks to CEO and founder Gustaf Agartson.
Global lab company Sonic Healthcare is reportedly reviewing its Irish operations as litigation claims related to Ireland’s CervicalCheck scandal mount and the subsidiary posts falling profits. HBI examines the role of the private sector in the screening scandal and talks to a solicitor representing half of the plaintiffs. Documents seen by HBI show evidence that slides were up to 7x more likely to be misread when outsourced.
Profits at lab group Bejing Genomics Institute (BGI) are up 734% in the first half of the year after the company rapidly built 58 labs in 18 countries and sold 35m testing kits to 92% of the countries in the world for COVID-19. Yet the company is now caught up in the ever-escalating US-China trade war as two subsidiaries have been blacklisted by the States. HBI examines what this means for its global reach.
In the space of a week, Amazon has launched an online pharmacy pilot in India, the country's largest retailer has retaliated by buying a controlling stake in established rival Netmeds, and the market's other two largest players - PharmEasy and Medlife - have merged to create a $1.2bn+ valued company. This is despite ongoing legislation that might ban e-pharmacies from any activity at all.
Thailand's government has re-opened the country for medical tourists by launching a new special visa that at least 1,700 people have already applied for. The news will be welcome for major medical tourism operators like Bumrungrad whose shares are down 33% on a like-for-like basis.
The IFC has loaned $5.2m to Nyaho Medical Centre, which claims to be the first private medical centre in Ghana, to help it expand outside of the capital Accra.
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