APHM 2017: Falck First Ambulance partners with Doctor2U
Falck First Ambulance has entered into a partnership with Doctor2U recently. “It’s quite exciting, because a patient can decide whether or not they can wait for an ambulance, or they can see how long the ambulance takes to arrive,” said Steven Penafort, Director, speaking to at the recently held APHM 2017 show in Kuala Lumpur. The partnership can grow the field of the company tremendously, he added.
The purpose built ambulance will send assistance to residents within Klang Valley and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. Doctor2U is an on-demand app that provides healthcare services at the customer’s doorstep. It provide services across Malaysia and Singapore, and soon will start in Thailand and the Philippines.
With Falck’s mission to raise the bar of pre-hospital care, there are also challenges when it comes to the Malaysian market, with the country’s geographical aspect being one of them. The ambulance industry in Malaysia is fragmented. According Penafort, some parts of the country do not offer ambulance services, and at times there will be multiple units coming to the scene.
Penafort states that Falck is still new to Asia. He says they have a training division on safety services in Malacca. Falck is serving the Malaysian market, and plans to serve East Malaysia next. “There is a lot of work to do,” he added. As for other markets in Asia, the company should be going down to Singapore, and is considering the Philippines market.
As of now, Falck First Ambulance wants to help advance the private healthcare sector. The company plans to serve through partnerships, as well as grow with the private hospitals.
First Ambulance started as a stand-alone private ambulance service in 1997, in Klang, and moved to Petaling Jaya. The company was bought over by Danish ambulance company Falck last year, and are now part of the Falck family.
Founded in 1906, Falck is the world’s largest international ambulance operator, as well as the largest private fire-fighting operator in the world. It has four divisions: emergency, assistance, healthcare and firefighting. The company plans to expand its business in 2018.
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