SHARJAH, 18 January 2005 — Investment in Dubai Healthcare City’s (DHCC) first two phases has been projected at AED11 billion and 90 percent of the planning for Phase II is complete and investment opportunities in this phase will be put on offer shortly, DHCC Chairman Saeed Al-Muntafiq has announced. Phase II is four times bigger than Phase I, both in terms of size and investments. The first phase has been sold out.
The DHCC is described as the Gulf region’s most ambitious medical services, education, research and healthcare delivery venture. In involves a complex where hospitals and doctors and others linked to healthcare could base themselves and offer their services. “The first medical facility will be ready to start operating fully soon and the first patient can be accepted by the end of the first quarter,” said Muntafiq.
The DHCC is working on providing the highest standards of quality in health care services in the Arab world as per the vision of Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defense Minister Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is committed to raising the overall health care standards in the region by 2010, according to Muntafiq. Around 80 percent of the investments in the DHCC are from Gulf investors.
“The DHCC is working at attracting two percent of the total spend on medicine and nursing in the region that spreads from Morocco to the borders of Indian subcontinent, which is estimated as $72 billion. That means that the city is working to attract around AED7 billion annually,” said Muntafiq.
Almost 30 percent of doctors and Arab researchers registered at DHCC are from overseas, mainly from the US and Canada. Phase I, when it opens, will have a total capacity of 1,000 beds including those at hospitals specialized in pediatrics, gynecology, oncology, cardiology, diabetes, cosmetic surgeries, ophthalmology and orthopedics. The building for Mayo Clinic, the largest and most famous cancer and heart surgery hospital in the world, will be ready soon.
Phase II, which is attracting a large number of establishments, will include centers for rehabilitation, nursing, obesity and nutrition, alternative medicine and pharmaceutical companies. Several contracts have been signed with leading companies in these fields which will be announced soon. This will help position the city as the gateway to the world, encompassing a wide spectrum of specialties of healthcare services covering the entire value chain, from acute care all the way to preventive medicine.
“We’ll start aggressive marketing of the city when the DHCC will be ready to receive patients. Actually, the soft marketing had begun a year ago when we established good relations with the ministries of health in the Arab region,” said Muntafiq.
