500 companies registered for Arab Health 2005

DUBAI - Arab Health 2005 is expected to be largest to date, what with a growing Middle East health and medical sector valued at $75 billion and market growth fuelled by major medical projects in the country, demands for better health care services, a rapidly increasing population and greater emphasis on health tourism.

By A Staff Reporter

Published: Fri 11 Jun 2004, 11:10 AM

Last updated: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 1:54 PM

The Middle East's health care sector is emerging as one of the fastest growing and most attractive markets in the world for specialised companies serving the needs of this vital sector.

Accordingly, Arab Health 2005 is expected to be larger by 25 per cent than this year's show, with over 500 companies from 34 countries already registered to attend the event. Re-bookings are already 50 per cent higher than last year's and major national pavilions have already sold out the space allocated to them. For the first time, Arab Health will occupy all eight halls as well as the Sheikh Rashid Hall at the Dubai International Convention Centre (DICC).

Global interest in the region's health care sector is being fuelled by a number of major medical projects within the Middle East, including the Dubai Health Care City (DHCC) project and the International Medical Center (IMC) in Jeddah.

"The Middle East's health care sector is expanding rapidly and recognition of the impact this will have on both the economies and the lives of the people of this region is reflected in the ongoing success of Arab Health, now in its thirtieth year," John Hassett, IIR exhibitions director, health care division, said.

One of the consequences of this exponential growth has been a growing demand for a wider variety of dedicated medical training programmes, to help sustain a sufficiently large pool of physicians and other paramedical staff to meet the needs of the region.

Part of the reason for widespread interest in Arab Health within the Middle East's medical community according to Mr. Hassett, is its facility to offer accreditation to doctors that participate in the conferences which run alongside the exhibition. The Arab Health 2005 conferences will be accredited by the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education (AACME)

In addition to interest from within the region, Arab Health 2005 is drawing a global audience of exhibitors and participants. More than 50 countries were represented at the 2004 show, including 26 national pavilions, with a large number of European health care organisations participating.

Data gathered through the Arab Health 2004 exhibitor survey suggests that satisfaction levels among participating companies was extremely high with 98 per cent indicating that the quality of visitors had met or exceeded their expectations.

"The consistent growth in exhibitor and visitor numbers at Arab Health highlights the excellent delivery of an exhibition that meets the needs of the market," Hassett concluded.