Riyadh Al-Mazroa
CEO, Gama Hospital
Gama Hospital is operated by Astoon Medical Services, which is part of the Fal Holdings Group. In 2006, Astoon Medical Services acquired Gama Hospital and updated it to make it one of the most prominent hospitals in the Eastern province. It provides a comprehensive range of outpatient and inpatient medical services. We built our business strategy based on the community needs and invested in many medical services. Gama Hospital is fully equipped with modern medical equipment and services, with highly qualified expertise in all medical specialties. Gama Hospital was the first hospital in the Eastern Province to be accredited by the Saudi Central Board of Accreditation for Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI) in 2012, and it was reaccredited twice in 2017. Raising private healthcare expenditure from 25% to 35% means new opportunities for the private healthcare sector in order to extend their investments, which in turn would lead to the sector’s financial sustainability and boost economic social development in the Kingdom. By implementing the privatization strategy plan, there will be no room for the concept of conflict of interest in the Ministry of Health because there will be a transition from public sector ownership to private sector management, which means the Ministry of Health’s role will be the same, from the point of supervision and regulations of the private sector.
Saad Sabbah
General Manager, As Salama Hospital
The hospital was established in 1958 and started as a maternity and children’s hospital. Over the years, it grew to become a general hospital with 140 beds. In 2017, it was acquired by NMC Healthcare, which is registered on the FTSE 100 in the UK and has already acquired five hospitals in the Kingdom. We strive to become the provider of choice in our service area. NMC Healthcare Saudi Arabia’s vision is to be one of the largest healthcare service providers in the Kingdom, which will be achieved by growing and improving the quality of care. In 2017, there were improvements in services provided, and this year there are several other improvement initiatives. Although the current market situation is a challenge, it is an opportunity to expand our services and maintain our strategy of growth. Between NMC Healthcare Saudi Arabia group and its hospital facilities across the network in the Kingdom, we are exploring every opportunity of synergy to provide the clinical expertise in the offered fields of services to improve the quality and level of service. We are exploring different type of services that will help us be a part of patient treatment before and after their visits to our facility. We will strive to fulfill our part of the vision by improving and expanding our services to work hand in hand with the public sector.
Mohammed Fawaz Al Bishri
Chairman, Mohammed Fawaz Al Bishri
Elaj Group was established in 1994 with one medical center in Jeddah, mainly catering to infertility and related fields. We started introducing other medical specialties at that center and then expanded our Elaj medical centers into Riyadh and the Eastern Province to cover the three main regions of the Kingdom. We grew further to cover all Saudi Arabia’s main cities and subsequently set up medical centers in the other Gulf countries. In 1998, we went into our second business line, setting up a joint venture with Al Borg Laboratories, one of the leaders in its field in the region now. Elaj Group is currently establishing its third line of business, namely hospitals. We have five hospitals in the Western Province that we are working on upgrading and bringing into operation in 2018. Elaj Group’s objective is to be a prominent healthcare holding providing for and catering to the entire healthcare spectrum. Ours is a comprehensive and integrated approach to providing healthcare services. There is a new approach now under the National Transformation Plan (NTP) and Vision 2030 to privatize the healthcare sector. We are entering a new era, and we will see extremely positive changes in the targeted sectors for privatization, which are healthcare and education. We are putting in place our infrastructure because we require the right platforms to cater to the needs of privatization.
Ayman H. Linjawi
CEO & Founder, Medical Reference Center
We are a mini hospital and have operating rooms, ICUs, and clinics that can cover everything. The idea started in 2009 when I was working in a government hospital and noticed the delay for patient services. I decided to set up a one-stop medical service where patients can save time on visits by doing all their check ups in one place. We specialize in all types of tumors as well as other services. In the health sector, we will see a decline in the market until 2020. After that, I expect certain medical institutions to go out of business, which will consolidate the market. With the privatization of government hospitals, this will rejuvenate the market. Medical tourism will be our future if Saudi Arabia continues to provide the distinguished care that it does now. In the Gulf area, we are number one without a doubt. The real competitors are Jordan and Turkey. For now, we plan to lower our expenses in preparation for a contracting market, though we will never compromise on the quality of care. If one wants excellent healthcare, then it will cost them a large sum of money. We have raised this issue with the government, noting that insurance premiums here are too low; they should be a higher so that insurance companies can cover the exact expense.
Dr. Suliman Babiker
CEO, Mohammad Dossary Hospital
We have been growing significantly for the last 10 years and have doubled our business. The number of patients grows by an average of 10% per year, and there was dramatic growth of 22% in 2017 because we introduced many new services. There is still significant demand for the private sector, though there are still great challenges. The first thing is government regulation, which is getting tough for the operation of healthcare. Restrictions have been put in place regarding the percentage of Saudi employees, and most of the time we are unable to apply for new visas for foreign workers. Getting a qualified workforce is a challenge for private hospitals. There is a shortage of qualified Saudis, as large companies and governmental hospitals attract more staff than private hospitals. In 2017, we formed large deals with major insurance companies, which reflects our overall growth of 22%. In 2018, with the new services that were not here before, including a cath lab, dialysis, and MRI, we hope to pursue our growth in service delivery to be able to target patients with more specialized needs. We also plan at the end of 2018 to start an open-heart unit. If the variables remain the same in the market, with the introduction of these new services we can maintain the same growth rate.
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