Singapore, 21 July 2010 – Sysmex Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., the Asia Pacific subsidiary of Sysmex Corporation (Kobe, Japan), today announced a major deal to supply its hematology analyzers to Healthscope Limited and two of its pathology laboratory companies, which are amongst the largest laboratory groups in South-East Asia: Gribbles Pathology Malaysia and Quest Laboratories in Singapore.

Healthscope is a leading private healthcare provider within Asia and Australasia and is listed on the ASX. In Australia it is the second largest private hospital provider operating 44 private hospitals. The company also includes a growing medical centers division with over 45 clinics, a diagnostic imaging division centered in major hospitals, and a leading pathology business with laboratory facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. In the area of pathology, Healthscope operates 42 laboratories in Australia, three in New Zealand, and 24 in Malaysia and Singapore – including Gribbles Pathology (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd and Quest Laboratories Pte. Ltd.

Originally established in 1998, Quest Laboratories is now the largest independent non-hospital based laboratory in Singapore. It was also awarded ISO 15189 accreditation in 2008 making it the first and only private medical laboratory to have this accreditation in Singapore currently.

Quest’s counterpart in Malaysia, Gribbles Pathology, headquartered in Petaling Jaya, Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur) was the first major private pathology laboratory in the region to achieve ISO/IEC 17025 (NATA*) certification and accreditation. It commenced operations in 1996 and is now the largest private provider of diagnostic laboratory services in the region, employing over 400 staff nationwide and currently performing tests for over 1.3 million patients per year.

In addition to achievements in quality standards accreditation both Gribbles Pathology Malaysia central lab in Kuala Lumpur and Quest Laboratories are amongst the two largest labs in South East Asia, with both laboratories each exceeding 1000 CBC tests per day in the area of hematology diagnostic testing, performing essential foreign worker screening in the region as part of their diagnostic testing workload.

Prior to the Sysmex deal both laboratories had been using hematology analyzers from competitive suppliers, so the new lineup from Sysmex which includes 2 x HST-302 ‘EXPERTline’ plus ‘Cellavision’ DM-96 automated digital cell morphology systems at both of the main laboratories, in addition to a combination of ‘X-Family’ automated hematology analyzers in Malaysia and Vietnam heralds a significant step forward in unifying Sysmex diagnostic technology and services across the Healthscope business in Asia and Australasia. A new laboratory is to be established in Vietnam which will also be using Sysmex automated hematology and blood coagulation analyzers as part of the deal.

“Gribbles Malaysia and Quest Singapore are two of the largest and most respected laboratories in South East Asia and we believed they were ideal candidates for a Sysmex hematology solution. The proven performance reliability and results accuracy of our instruments will serve Gribbles and Quest, as well as its network of laboratories and clinics in the region to balance the need to provide quality patient care with the need to deliver that care as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Sysmex Asia Pacific is honored to expand our relationship with Healthscope in Asia Pacific by adding Malaysia, Singapore and also Vietnam to our already strong businesses in Australia and New Zealand” said Greg Murrell, Director of Sales at Sysmex Asia Pacific.

“Our decision to partner with Sysmex Asia Pacific was driven by our need to seek out a hematology equipment manufacturer that had a proven track record of instrument performance and one that enabled greater work efficiency while cost-effectively producing accurate results. Sysmex’s reliability and its standardization capability enable us to meet these needs across our laboratories in Malaysia, Singapore and our new laboratory in Vietnam” said Dr Chris Ting, Chief General Manager, Gribbles Malaysia.

“Furthermore, we were looking for an automation solution to satisfy the high workload and short turnaround time requirements at our main laboratories in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur; we had received good reports on the Sysmex HST system from our colleagues in Australia and New Zealand, so we are very confident that the Sysmex HST-302 ‘EXPERTline’ will meet our requirements now and in the future” concluded Dr Ting.

The entire new order of instruments are to be installed at 27 locations in Singapore and Malaysia, together with a newly established laboratory in Vietnam progressively over the next 12 months and will go-live as existing agreements with the incumbent suppliers expire.

*National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia