Hospitals Beyond Boundaries (HBB) is a non-profit registered under the Malaysian Societies Act (Society No: PPM-019-14-22052012). We are made of youth professionals from various disciplines united by a mission to build hospitals where it is needed most. Driven by a strong belief that the sickness of the poor is not only a call to generous short term relief action, but also a demand to rebuild a society through long term and sustainable health care efforts, HBB was born.

Mission

Our mission is to help build hospitals where it is needed most. We develop the surrounding community socially and economically by empowering them to sustain the health care services we provide. We look at health care beyond the hospital boundaries to include adequate shelter, nutrition and health education.

Our Working Model

Empowering the community through social business

Our hospitals will not run on full charity, but on empowerment of the poor through social business. This is because we believe that nobody wants to be permanently dependent on others. People are motivated to know that they have the capability to take care of themselves and other people. Through social business, we provide jobs and economic opportunities for the community. We stand by the ‘Seven Principles of Social Business’ defined by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus:

1. Our business objective is to overcome poverty, not to maximize profit
2. Our company will attain financial and economic sustainability
3. Investors get back only their investment amount. No dividend is given beyond the return of original investment
4. When the investment amount is paid back, profit stays with the company for expansion and improvement
5. Our company will be environmentally conscious
6. Our workforce gets market wage with better-than-standard working conditions
7. We do this with joy

In developing countries, the socio-economic gap between the rich and the poor is huge, even in the same locality. A social business can leverage on this situation by cross-subsidizing the poor by providing high quality service for all. For our first project, we are focusing on mother and child’s health. For every 3 children delivered and the services paid for by those who could afford, the profits will be used to subsidize one child delivery for those who could not afford.

Stimulating the local economy 

We empower the community to take charge of their own healthcare by involving the local community as paid community healthcare workers. The work of a community health care worker include educating the community about health, refer patients to the hospital, and visit patients who are unable to come to the hospital. They do not take over the responsibility of doctors or nurses. Instead, as members of their own community, they serve as an important bridge that builds trust and links the hospital to the community. Involving the local community in the treatment of patients would better address the barriers to health faced by the local community such as transportation costs, cultural and religious beliefs, social stigma, discrimination and lack of information. The rationales behind paying the community healthcare workers are: (1) it would create paying jobs for the community and ultimately boosts the local economy (2) payments and increments based on time or performance reduces workforce turnover and the costs of finding replacements (3) by releasing their minds of financial worries to take care of their family, they could focus on their work and perform their jobs at their best. At HBB, we have respect for people’s labour and we allow them the dignity of having a job and taking care of their family.

Creating a health care system that caters to the needs of the community

The countries that we choose to work in are newly developing. Hence, many public hospitals face impediments such as limited resources, bureaucratic delays or poor healthcare system. With so many things to improve on, they may not have enough resources to cater each hospital towards the unique needs of the surrounding community. By being a community-run hospital, we wish to be different by tailoring ourselves to the cultural needs and socio-economic condition of the community. Through the freedom to collaborate with other organizations, corporations, local partners and donors, we provide more flexible control of the management, workforce and medical supplies in our hospitals.
Explore the NGO on Social Enterprise Alliance

Hospitals Beyond Boundaries