OUE Lippo Healthcare's Pun Hlaing Hospitals in Myanmar receive first batch of Sinopharm vaccines

MYANMAR'S Yoma Siloam Hospital Pun Hlaing (PHH) has become the first private hospital group to procure Sinopharm's Covid-19 vaccine, OUE Lippo Healthcare (OUELH) said in an exchange filing on Thursday (Nov 18).

The hospital group, a joint venture between OUELH and First Myanmar Investment, received its first shipment of the vaccine that day, said the Catalist-listed company.

This comes after PHH received approval from Myanmar's Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Administration to import up to 400,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, which is on the World Health Organization's Emergency Use Listing.

Yet Kum Meng, chief executive of OUELH, said: "The successful procurement of Sinopharm vaccine by PHH demonstrates the proactive repositioning of the business by its local management, despite very dynamic and challenging circumstances in the country."

The company noted that PHH had repositioned its business during the Covid-19 pandemic, ramping up capacity to test, contain and treat Covid-19 patients.

It also set up 4 vaccination centres in Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi, which will be able to inoculate up to 10,000 people daily.

OUELH said PHH has already administered more than 70,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccines, which were mainly procured under a vaccination programme launched by the Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

OUELH shares closed flat at S$0.034 on Thursday.