UAE’s Burjeel Holdings to invest Dh3.6 billion in Saudi Arabia health sector

Burjeel Holdings, one of the UAE’s largest private healthcare groups, plans a massive expansion in the region with $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) foray into Saudi Arabia’s health industry.

The local healthcare services provider inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) for collaboration with the Kingdom’s healthcare institutes and organisations, and investment up to $1 billion by 2030.

Fahad Alnaeem, Deputy Minister for Sector Investment Development at the Ministry of Investment, Saudi Arabia, and Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, founder and CEO of Burjeel Holdings, signed the MoU in Riyadh.

Currently, Burjeel Holdings operates 39 hospitals and medical centres in the UAE and Oman. The group will seek investment opportunities through joint ventures and public private partnership models to establish and expand various healthcare offerings across Saudi Arabia. It aims to create an industry-leading healthcare network, including specialty medical centres, day surgery capability, digital health ventures, comprehensive super specialty hospitals and clinical research programmes. Burjeel’s research commitments include exploring innovation in areas of cancer prevention, screening and therapy.

In addition to delivering healthcare services, Burjeel will also work through MISA in areas of humanitarian aid and international healthcare volunteering.

The group is in discussions with various private sector providers and leading public sector hospitals in the Kingdom to deliver these services and expects to begin formalising collaboration agreements over the coming months.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a key focus market for Burjeel Holdings and we are proud to commit to this MoU with the Ministry of Investment – a significant step in our entry to the Kingdom. We are excited about the many opportunities to support the Kingdom’s healthcare ambitions and to bring our expertise to a sector, which is integral to the delivery of Vision 2030,” Dr Shamsheer said.

Burjeel Holdings recently reported record financial results reflecting the strength of its diversified portfolio of high-quality healthcare assets, highly specialised services and its strong, connected growth platform. Revenue in the financial year 2021 was Dh3,351 million, representing an 18 per cent compound annual growth rate over the three-year period 2019-2021.

Burjeel Holdings has state-of-the-art facilities and offers world-class service standards through its network of 61 assets, including hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and other allied services. Burjeel Holdings’ brands include Burjeel Hospitals, Medeor Hospitals, LLH Hospitals, Lifecare Hospital, and Tajmeel. It has a total 1,660 patient beds across its operations in UAE and Oman. The group has comprehensive cancer care facilities in the UAE and is the country’s leading mother and children’s healthcare provider. — ashwani@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai