UAE’s Healthcare group looks to expand

The group already has a strong presence in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Kuwait. It operates two hospitals (the National Hospital in Abu Dhabi and Conceive in Sharjah), as well as 29 clinics including 10 dental centres with labs, six pharmacies and two diagnostic facilities across the UAE. It also has six distribution centres and two training centres.

It is still open to expanding in the region, chief executive officer Dilshaad Ali said at a recent media roundtable.

“We are always on the growth path and keep looking to expand. We see the Middle East itself is growing, so our geographical expansion looks at Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman to a large extent and also looking into North Africa for the existing facilities and other new opportunities that come our way,” he said.

He added that Avivo Group is also in discussion on some private-public partnerships in some countries.

Dilshaad said growth would come from hospital segment of the healthcare delivery system as the current state of the platform will have a robust referral network to fill-up future in-patient occupancies.

“We have segmented our assets into low-end and mid-to-high end clinics. Some of our clinics are currently being transformed into speciality clinics offering surgical services that will help us in increasing our revenue base significantly,” he added.

Dilshaad said the private sector has to play a role in strengthening the local healthcare industry as the government can’t take responsibility alone amid rising demand from the growing communities in the country.

“Encouraging private sector investment in the region, the government should build the confidence to invest and bring the latest technologies to the local population. The current efforts of the Dubai government to promote medical tourism is an excellent initiative to enhance the healthcare infrastructure and improve the quality of delivery to reach global standards,” he said.