KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Information technology company Palette Multimedia Bhd is expecting its mobile healthcare platform, known as i-medic, to be a key revenue driver for its financial year ending May 31, 2017 (FY17).

The platform connects doctors and specialists with patients, through the use of multiple medical and fitness-tracking devices, through a mobile application that runs on smart devices.

Palette chairman Eg Kah Yee said the company will be focusing on the China market first, banking on the large population and growing affluence of the people, and has inked a deal with Shanghai International Medical Centre (SIMC) to set up an international mobile healthcare centre, dubbed 'The 3rd Center'.

“We have signed a partnership deal with the most prestigious hospital and the first high-end hospital built in China, SIMC, to provide quality healthcare services to the increasingly affluent population in China.

“Patients will no longer need to visit the doctors face-to-face as frequent as before, and this is a big step forward for international medical tourism,” he told reporters today on the sidelines of the group’s annual general meeting.

Under the agreement with SIMC, the hospital will be providing the space and necessary hardware facilities to set up an International Mobile Healthcare Centre, while Palette will set up the mobile healthcare system and also provide training, technical support and consultants for the centre.

Eg said the company is currently working with over 100 specialists at SIMC, including cardiologists, oncologists, as well as traditional Chinese medicine cancer specialists, and is in the process of training these specialists to use the i-medic platform.

Besides working with hospitals, Palette is also working with over 500 individual doctors and specialists from around the world on the i-medic platform, he added.

“The i-medic platform has already contributed up to RM2 million in revenue for FY16, and we expect this to grow, going forward,” he said.

The company had returned to black in FY16 with a net profit of RM2.24 million, after reporting seven consecutive years of losses. Revenue for FY16 stood at RM3.62 million.

In the first quarter ended Aug 31 (1QFY17) however, the group reported a net loss of RM516,000. There was no comparable period, as Palette had changed its year-end to May 31, from Dec 31.

At 12.30 p.m., Palette was unchanged at 7 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM22.37 million.