Happy New Year! It is my pleasure to welcome you in 2012 which I believe will be a year of transformation for Siloam with your ongoing commitment and hard work.

Highlighted by the group’s 15^th anniversary of its first hospital at Lippo Village, the consolidation of its seven hospitals, and the start of construction of six additional hospitals across the country, 2011 was a particularly challenging year. Nevertheless we are delighted to announce a sound financial and throughput growth of over 15%. None of this could have happened without your passion to make a difference.  

Entering the year 2012, our first and foremost challenge is to carry forward the commitment to enhance patient safety, to deliver a credible growth strategy and to optimize the organization’s EBITDA. “We must have the philosophy that in everything we do, we must ease our patient’s burden, not the other way around.” Our team has spent two years developing the hospital’s Operation Line to maximize the capacity of our Human Resources, Financial, Equipment, Infrastructure and Service Configuration. We are now in the process of developing a ‘Digital Hospital Foundation’, integrating Hospital Information System (LIS, RIS and PACS), Finance and HR System, and Building Management System. This integration will eventually enable health professionals, patients and family, hospital administrators and medical researchers to experience paperless and seamless service wherever they are; this will ease our patients’ burden.

The second challenge is to develop our UPH Medical Sciences (UPHMS) Group by continuing to synergize healthcare with education and research. We are confident that this synergy will be the key differentiator that will enable us to be competitive locally and regionally. This is the direction that Prof. George Matthew will take in leading our UPHMS.

To conclude, I would like to reinforce the need for the entire organization to act together as one, to work together as a team and to create opportunities out of the challenges. The famous philosopher Lao Tzu said “Great trees grow from the smallest shoots; a terraced garden from a pile of earth; and a journey of a thousand miles begins by taking the initial step”. For Siloam Hospitals Group to grow, everyone has to participate. This is also the principle of nanotechnology – start from small.

To everyone in Siloam Hospitals Group – our people, our doctors, our patients, our business partners and all other stakeholders – I would like to once again thank you for your ongoing support and wish you and your families a happy new year.