Japan's Capital Medica eyeing S-E Asia hospitals

Tokyo

CAPITAL Medica Co, a Japanese operator of care facilities, is seeking to acquire hospitals in South-east Asia as it tries to get patients to choose Japan over the US and other markets for heart bypasses and other surgical procedures.

"Medical tourism is a promising market in Japan and the weaker yen serves as a tailwind," Kentaro Nakamura, Capital Medica's head of corporate development, said this month in an interview. He said the cost in Japan of some sophisticated surgical procedures is "considerably less" than in the US, Singapore and Malaysia.