IHH Healthcare‘s IHH Healthspan programme is moving longevity medicine away from vitamins and aesthetics into clinical science, chief executive Prem Kumar Nair has said, as Asia’s largest private hospital group repositions itself for a continent growing older faster than any other.
The programme launched in July and is currently offered in Singapore. Prem intends to roll it out across IHH’s nine other markets, which include India, Turkey and Greater China.
One in four people across Asia will be older than 65 by 2050, according to the Asian Development Bank. A Stanford study published in April found that population ageing accounted for 33.6% of the increase in disease burden across mainland China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
IHH Healthspan programme unveiled at FutureHealth.Now 2026
According to Healthcare Asia Magazine, the IHH Healthspan programme was unveiled at FutureHealth.Now 2026, positioning IHH squarely in the growing market for evidence-based preventive care.
Prem drew a sharp line between the programme and the broader wellness industry. ‘For many people, longevity means aesthetics: coloring your hair, and taking a whole lot of vitamins and supplements. But for a healthcare provider like us, longevity is anchored very strongly in clinical science,’ he said.
The programme uses GLP-1 drugs, the class that includes Ozempic and Wegovy, which Prem described as ‘the poster boy of longevity’. The purpose is not cosmetic weight loss, he stressed, but preventing obesity-driven arthritis and metabolic disease.
Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass, is another clinical focus. ‘We’ll encourage older patients to do resistance training, not for them to build biceps, but to make sure that their muscles can hold them up and they don’t fall and sustain knee or hip fractures,’ Prem explained.
From mega hospitals to community care
IHH is also expanding its network of ambulatory care centres: smaller, community-based facilities that handle procedures such as endoscopies and total knee replacements without a hospital admission. The group’s Parkway MediCentre in Singapore’s Woodleigh district already offers chronic disease management alongside dermatology and obstetrics and gynaecology consultations.
‘We have transitioned from being a mega hospital player to a healthcare ecosystem player in all the countries that we are in,’ Prem said. ‘That’s going to be the future of healthcare.’
IHH today operates 89 hospitals across 10 countries, with 2025 revenue of approximately $6 billion. The group ranks No. 58 on Fortune’s Southeast Asia 500 list.
Cancer has overtaken cardiology as the group’s largest subspecialty. ‘We’re investing a lot in cancer testing, genomic medicine and precision medicine,’ Prem said. In 2019, IHH led a $20 million Series A funding round for Singapore-based genomic medicine firm Lucence, which produces liquid biopsy blood tests capable of detecting more than ten types of cancer at an early stage.
On artificial intelligence, IHH converted its data and digital department into a dedicated AI transformation team. Its rostering tool, NurseShift.ai, automates a task that once consumed roughly 51% of nursing supervisors’ time, according to Prem. It has won a health innovation award from Singapore’s Ministry of Health and is being rolled out to Malaysia and Hong Kong.
IHH is also developing AI-enabled clinical pathways in which models analyse patient symptoms and risk factors before suggesting treatment plans for doctors to review, edit and approve. ‘One of the key reasons behind resource wastage is variation in healthcare,’ Prem said. ‘AI can help in standardizing this by giving clinicians a framework to build upon.’
On geography, Prem said IHH is considering expanding into adjacent markets, including Indonesia, which has changed its regulations to allow foreign doctors to practise and private hospitals to be fully owned by international operators. No concrete plans have yet been made, he added.
