(Yicai Global) Aug. 7 -- Ping An Good Doctor will transplant its business model in China to Indonesia, Wang Tao, chief executive of the online medical care firm, said in an interview with the 21st Century Business Herald yesterday.

Only 0.6 doctor is available to every 1,000 people in Indonesia where the national population is about 260 million, Wang noted, adding the Shenzhen-based firm is expected to provide local users with a portfolio of medical and health services, including online diagnosis and a 'health mall,' in six months.

Its local partner, Singapore-based ride-hailing transport services, food delivery and payment solutions company Grab Holdings, owns rich resources there, including internet traffic, logistics and labor.

The firm secured USD400 million in investment from SoftBank in early 2018, when Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's president and chairman, said Ping An Health Cloud's products and models can be replicated overseas. This true above all in Southeast Asia, whose culture, demands and population characteristic are quite similar to China's, Wang noted.

The firm joined hands with Tokyo-based investment bank SoftBank in April to set up a joint venture in Japan to actively tap into the country's online medical care, after it teamed up with Grab to expand the Indonesian market.

The firm's revenue rose over two-fold annually to CNY2.273 billion, while its net loss narrowed to CNY273 million from CNY444 over same period last year, its first-half results it released yesterday show.

The online hospital business is still at the initial stage of 'Internet Plus Medical Care,' with participants emerging one after another and struggling to survive, a professional in the field said, adding the difficulty in achieving profitability is a specter haunting the entire sector.

Editor: Ben Armour