RIYADH, 22 May 2005 — Indian health care industry, planning to invest SR25 million in the Kingdom, hopes to benefit from the Health and Finance Ministries plan to encourage the opening of low-income hospitals.
The new plan would allow Indian hospitals to enter a lucrative market, especially with the mandatory medical insurance scheme going into effect in June.
The source stated Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a leading private hospital in a southern Indian state, is set to open a new hospital in the Eastern Province this year.
The Apollo Hospital Group, meanwhile, is going ahead with plans for launching six small hospitals at a cost of SR7 million in different parts of the Kingdom by December 2006.
The Star Atlas Group from Kerala, currently operating a hospital in Dubai, has drawn up its own plans for operating a hospital in the Kingdom. The feasibility studies are now in progress.
The Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences also plans to open a hospital in the Kingdom. While the Shifa Al-Jazeera Polyclinic, which currently operates two polyclinics in Riyadh, plans to expand its premises in order to compete.
Unity Healthcare from Karnataka has unveiled its plans for setting up a hospital in this country sometime next year.
Ernst and Young (Bahrain), meanwhile, in cooperation with the Riyadh-based JAD Medical Services, is organizing the First Gulf Forum on Health care Quality Improvement and Accreditation on June 1 and 2.
A spokesman for the organizers said there will be a regional workshop on dental quality management and accreditation on June 1.
He added: “Both workshops would be highly focused and feature modern health care management techniques that give health care organizations a competitive edge in the market place.”
