July 3, 2018
News Release
Address: 20-8 Kasuga 3-chome, Suita, Osaka, Japan
Company name: SHIP HEALTHCARE HOLDINGS, INC.
Representative: Kunihisa Furukawa, Chairman and CEO(Shares listed on First Section, Tokyo Stock Exchange, code: 3360)
Contact: Hiroshi Yokoyama, Managing Director
Tel.: +81-6-6369-0130
Notice of conclusion of investment agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
On July 3, GREEN HOSPITAL SUPPLY, INC. (GHS), a subsidiary of SHIP HEALTHCAREHOLDINGS, INC., concluded and signed an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) on the receipt of JICA investment in the construction and operation of a private
general hospital now being developed by Ship Aichi Medical Service Limited (SAMSL) ofBangladesh, also a subsidiary of SHIP HEALTHCARE HOLDINGS. This agreement will provide
support for the project involving the expansion and operation of the East West Medical College
Hospital (a 280-bed hospital opened in 2000) undertaken by SAMSL, which was established by GHS
and Dhaka’s East West Medical College.*1“Applying Japanese hospital management expertise to provide the people of Bangladesh with worldclass medical services at affordable cost.” Based on this slogan, SAMSL seeks to help strengthen
medical care standards in Bangladesh by expanding the East West Medical College Hospital to 650
licensed beds. The project will involve the construction of an annex and a new building and establish
new and highly specialized departments
at the hospital. The number of hospital beds per 10,000
population in Bangladesh is 6,*2 (vs. a global average of 27 beds and an average of 10 beds among
other low-income nations), regarded to be extremely low. The nation is severely lacking in terms of *3
the number of medical professionals as well, with only 0.66 doctors and nurses per 1,000 population.
(The World Health Organization defines countries with less than 2.28 doctors and nurses per 1,000
population as severely lacking medical professionals.)
Due to factors such as changing diets and lifestyles, Bangladesh is also undergoing a shift from
infectious to noninfectious diseases. Some 61% of all diseases in*4the country now involve
noninfectious disease such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, despite these changes in
the health challenges facing the nation, the development of a medical infrastructure suitable foraddressing noninfectious disease has lagged. The development of hospitals and medical training
required to handle advanced medical care have emerged as pressing issues.
Against this backdrop, the government of Bangladesh is advocating a policy of improving medical
services through private sector initiatives, with the goal of securing equitable high-quality healthcare
for all citizens. Drawing on Japan’s hospital management expertise, the project will deliver highly
specialized medical services and help support the health policies of the Bangladesh government. The
project will also help achieve the Japanese government’s future investment strategy (announced in2017), which seeks to establish 20 Japanese medical care institutions overseas by the year 2020.
To date, aid provided by JICA to the Bangladesh government has addressed improvements in medical
facilities, equipment, and supplies, as well as efforts to train nurses through the MCH and Health
System Improvement Project (yen loans) (2015*5) andthe Project for Capacity Building of Nursing
Services (technical cooperation project) (2015–2020*6).
The SHIP HEALTHCARE Group seeks to ensure the success of this project by partnering with JICA,
which offers a wealth of experience and expertise in foreign aid.
*1 A 280-bed general hospital affiliated with a private medical college in Bangladesh, providing
medical care across a wide range of specialties, including internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics,obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, radiology, cardiovascular care,dermatology, and rehabilitation*2 Source: World Health Statistics 2014
*3 Source: The World Health Report 2016
*4 Source: Health Bulletin 2016
*5 Reference: https://www.jica.go.jp/press/2015/20151214_01.html*6 Reference: https://www.jica.go.jp/project/bangladesh/005/index.html

1