The Middle East is becoming the “centre of the world” for specialised healthcare companies seeking a share of the region’s new hospital construction market, according to a leading industry player.
“The trend is particularly true for operating theatres,” said Salah Malek, Middle East Managing Director of Maquet, the world’s leading specialist in surgical workplaces and medical technology. “In the developed world the market is more about upgrading facilities but here the number of hospitals keeps on mushrooming and new operating theatres are on a steep growth curve.”
Maquet, part of Sweden’s Gettinge Group, will be part of the biggest single company stand measuring more than 800 square metres next month at the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress – the biggest healthcare exhibition in the Middle East which is set be even larger in 2010.
With the addition of four new halls at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Arab Health Exhibition running from 25-28 January 2010 has been expanded by 20,000 square metres to accommodate more exhibitors, according to the organiser, IIR Middle East.
Maquet will be erecting two full-scale and fully-equipped 35 square metre examples of their operating theatres on the stand. When the exhibition closes for the first day, Maquet will, overnight, convert the two theatres into one 70-square metre hybrid theatre equipped with medical imaging technology ready for day two.
More than 2,000 of the modular Variop operating theatres have been constructed around the world and Maquet have installed almost 60 of them, along with three intensive care units, in the Middle East.
“The healthcare market in the Gulf Co-operation Council countries is expected to grow at about 9% annually to reach $47 billion to $55 billion by 2020, according to a recent report by Alpen Capital,” said Dave Panther, Sponsorship Director of the event.
“Maquet are a good example of a major international company recognising the continued growth in healthcare in the region and the opportunities this affords, which is reflected in the increase in the size of Arab Health in 2010 by around 20%.”
The Arab Health Exhibition and Congress is supported by the UAE Ministry of Health, Dubai Health Authority and the Abu Dhabi Health Authority.