Several United Kingdom health care firms showcased their services and products here as part of a visiting trade and investment delegation on Wednesday at the International Medical Center (IMC).

The event was aimed at health care practitioners and policymakers involved in all aspects of health care delivery, including planning, design and construction of hospitals and procurement and delivery of services.

Helen Tanner, assistant director of UK Trade and Investment Middle East, told Arab News that the seminars in Riyadh and Jeddah were organized to provide information on all health care services including planning and digital health care.

She said the aim of the trade mission was to ensure long-term partnerships between UK and Saudi providers. “I emphasize that it's a partnership. It’s not about UK companies coming to sell (products). The Kingdom has wonderful facilities. We want to deliver excellent packages and services needed by patients in rural communities in the country,” she said.

Mohammad Shaukat, the British consul general, said Saudi Arabia was undergoing massive expansion in the health care sector with the country's budget at around $27 billion.

He said the seminars were an opportunity for the UK firms to develop joint projects with Saudi hospitals and share experiences and knowledge.

Speakers at the event included representatives from Strategic Health Planning; Penoyre & Prasad; NB Medical Education; Field Fisher Waterhouse; Ashridge; Eastwood Park Training Facilities; PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC); Carillion; Safe Patient Systems; TPP SystmOne; and BT Health.

The seminars follow the signing of a Saudi and UK memorandum of understanding on health care cooperation in 2011, an exchange of visits by senior clinicians and the launch of several joint projects.