JEDDAH, 4 June 2005 — Saudi Health held concurrently with Saudi Hospital with a high profile symposium on “Challenges and aspirations in health care in the Kingdom” ended at the Jeddah International Exhibition & Convention Center on Thursday night, with exhibitors claiming an overwhelming response both in terms of business and visitor turnout.
More than 12,000 visitors from the health and hospital sector, as well as senior company executives and decision makers, from the pharmaceutical and hospital equipment fields visited the biennial exhibition during its five-day run that has become one of the most important events in this part of the world.
Visitors included a vast section of students, teachers, professors and professionals from across the Western Province and also the rest of the Kingdom, aside from some coming from the Gulf States, according to the spokesman for Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions, which organized the annual event.
An interesting feature of the exhibition was a high profile symposium conducted by King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSH&RC), Jeddah, entitling delegates to six credit hours. Experts and specialists gave presentations that kept the attendees, comprising mostly of students, doctors and professionals spellbound.
An expert panel of the three-day symposium made recommendations on its concluding day Wednesday on various healthcare aspects, including standards and trends, needs and ambitions for professionals, and contemporary challenges in the Kingdom. “The symposium was well attended and very successful as many doctors, professors and professionals took advantage of the presentations given by experts, Abdulmajeed Al-Nahdi, acting assistant director of community relations program at KFSH&RC, said.
Exhibits of 150 companies from 15 companies reflected the latest advancement in the medical sector at the show, which was opened by Dr. Yaser ibn Saeed Al-Ghamdi, director general of health affairs, Makkah Region.
Among the local institutions exhibiting at the venue were Abdul Latif Jameel Rehabilitation Hospital & Specialty Clinics, Saudi Society of Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery, Al-Emam Cancer Society, and Ibn Sina National Medical College, Jeddah. “We’re the first private medical college combining medicine, pharmacy and dentistry here. We received many inquiries from prospective medical students,” said Dr. Iqbal Musani, member of the executive council of the college. “The exhibition was both informative and educational as it reflected the advancement made in the field of medicine and equipment exhibited by world participants,” said Khaled Muhammad Al-Harbi, a businessman and trader of Makkah.
“This market is highly competitive and if overseas companies come up with quality products at competitive rates, they are sure to find immense scope in this ever-expanding market,” said Abdullah Al-Marwan, a hospital executive from Baha.
Most of the first-time exhibitors said they could initiate negotiations with prospective agents and distributors for their medial products and services. Some of them also claimed deals that have been reached or are in the pipeline that run into several million dollars.
“Hundreds of our medical and pharmaceutical companies are well established across the United States and Europe. We’re now exploring the Middle East and Africa, and this exhibition has provided us a unique opportunity to study the local market that has very high potential, “said Gerhard Kobrow of Germany’s Neubeuern-based Aircast.
“We’re pursuing the plan to establish a 200-bed general hospital with all specialties in Madinah, and this exhibition has helped us to know the needs of the local community,” said Norhaiza Mamat of Kuala Lumpur-based Pantai company which is collaborating with the Jeddah-based Al-Sharif Group.
Other overseas exhibitors who found the response “encouraging and overwhelming” were from Australia, Belgium, China, Egypt, Italy, Korea, Pakistan, Slovenia, UAE, and the UK. “We found a big market for our blood products,” said LI Gui Nian of Shanghai Xinxing Medicine Co. Ltd. of Shanghai.