JEDDAH, 20 June 2004 — Saudi Arabia is becoming a prime market for medical equipment and health care products. Recent research suggests that the Kingdom accounts for almost 60 percent of total medical and health care sales in the Gulf.
The Saudi market is increasingly attractive because of its rapidly expanding population with an annual growth rate of three percent according to official figures, and also due to the government’s decision to introduce medical insurance for the estimated nine million expatriates in the Kingdom.
Market analysts have predicted that this decision will greatly expand the private health care market and stimulate growth in spending.
Executives at Arab Health, the Middle East’s leading health care and medical exhibition and conference, reported a significant increase in companies applying to exhibit both from within the Kingdom and abroad.
“At the half-way point on the way to the 2005 exhibition, we’re seeing two trends converging that demonstrate the size and potential of the Saudi health care market,” said John Hassett, exhibitions director of organizer IIR Exhibitions’ health care division. “One is an increasing number of international organizations looking to meet Saudi companies; the second is a rising number of participants from Saudi Arabia.”
Arab Health 2004 at Dubai International Exhibition Center was the largest health care exhibition ever held in the Middle East. It featured 1,422 exhibitors and 24,786 health care professionals, managers and distributors from over 50 countries, including 25 country pavilions.
With Saudi Arabia the largest medical market in the Gulf, many exhibitors were eager to establish or reaffirm their presence here, Hassett said. “Health care companies and hospital equipment designers are signing up to exhibit with specific objectives for reaching Saudi decision-makers in the medical sector. The Saudi government budgeted to spend $6.2 billion for health and social care in 2003, which represents a huge potential market,” he added.
Among the applicants for Arab Health 2005, a high number have expressed strong interest in meeting distributors and potential customers in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, current application levels show that a higher number of Saudi organizations have asked to exhibit and participate.
Saudi organizations that participated in Arab Health 2004 included Jamjoom Medical Industries and Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz Humanitarian City.
