DHL develops healthcare hubs in growing Singapore market

DHL has invested over S$6 million (US$4.60 million) to develop two dedicated healthcare facilities in Singapore, in order to meet growing demand for regional distribution centres, local distribution to pharmacies and hospitals, and secondary packaging services.

DHL has expanded from a single healthcare hub to a network of two integrated healthcare hub operations in Singapore, spanning 8,000 square metres.

These hubs will provide secondary packaging services for restructured hospitals National University Hospital (NUH) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), which requires repackaging and bar-code labelling of bulk pharmaceutical products.

"Creating single-dose packaging is labour-intensive but has a critical impact on both the safe administration of medicine to patients and the efficient management of hospitals today in terms of best utilising staff and budgets," said Kok Peet Leong, vice president, south east Asia.

"In Singapore alone, we handle more than a million of secondary repackaging and labelling units per month," he said.

At the DHL healthcare hubs, life sciences equipment records information about each drug including strength and expiry dates on each dose using bar-codes that allow better inventory control and expiry date management of stocks. This logistics solution enables single doses to be administered faster and more accurately, said a DHL statement.

Both facilities are GDP/MDS certified and carry certification such as ISO 13485:2003, ISO 9001:2008 (Quality System) and OHSAS 18001:1999 (Occupational Health & Safety Assessment Standard) for distribution practices in medical devices and equipment. In addition, the Healthcare Hub in Changi is GMP certified by the Health Sciences Authority for secondary packaging of pharmaceutical products and postponement services, to enhance the hospitals' inventory management standards.

"Healthcare services and life sciences is one of DHL's fastest growing sectors globally and particularly in Asia Pacific," the company added.
(Source:www.schednet.com)