Precept April NZ Herald

Christine Nikiel: NZ Herald

Health software developer dares to dream big

Precept Health (e-centre start-up company) hopes multi-million-dollar Malaysian deals will open the door to other Asian opportunities.

In the intensive care unit at Temerloh, Malaysia's largest hospital, a stream of data is silently transferring from a patient to drug pumps, vital sign monitors, ventilators and other life support machines.

Controlled by software, data on everything from the patient's heart rate to the volume of blood being pumped by their heart is monitored and recorded. The technology saves hospital staff from having to manually record and analyse copious amounts of complex information, and its inventor, Precept Health, is a tiny start-up based on Auckland's North Shore.

The company recently won a $20 million contract with the Malaysian Ministry of Health - beating United States healthcare IT giants Philips Healthcare and GM - to roll out its flagship critical care information software system, called ICU Care, in the Hospital Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Temerloh (Temerloh Hospital). And this week Precept scored deals to supply 13 more hospitals in Malaysia with ICU Care.

Founder Tony Blomfield hopes to "get it right" in Malaysia and secure a larger contract with the ministry to supply more of the country's 134 hospitals, and sees the Temerloh contract as a foot in the door to the rest of developing Asia.
Read more ...