Healthy progress made in Saudi Arabia’s wellness drive

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• Government push ‘bearing fruit’
• Billions in new investments
• Part of Vision 2030

Private health services in Saudi Arabia are rapidly expanding as its growing population and the focus on improving citizens’ wellbeing under the Vision 2030 programme bring in billions of dollars in new domestic and foreign investments.

During the Global Health Exhibition, held in Riyadh at the end of October, Saudi officials announced deals worth $13.3 billion. 

Investor interest was similarly on display at the Future Investment Initiative last month, also hosted in the Saudi capital, where huge commitments were made in healthcare from Hong Kong to the US.  

Mohammed Alhassan, co-founder and co-CEO of the financial services firm Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), says that the government push to both increase direct funding of healthcare services and facilitate private sector participation through public-private partnerships is now bearing fruit. 

A young, wellness-focused population, rising rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases and the development of new digital health and telemedicine services are also fueling a more sophisticated healthcare demand in the kingdom, he says.

GII, which is based in Dubai and shariah-compliant, acquired a majority stake in Al Meswak, Saudi Arabia’s largest dental and dermatological group, in April 2022, and an equity stake in Abeer Medical Company in January.

“We see the country as a key market due to its commitment to healthcare reforms and its focus on improving access to high-quality medical services,” Alhassan says.

“GII does envision further expansion within the kingdom, given the favourable investment environment and the evolving demand for healthcare services.”

Growing the private sector’s involvement in healthcare from 25 to 35 percent through the privatisation of 290 hospitals and 2,300 primary health centres by the end of the decade is among the goals of Vision 2030, according to a report published this spring by Christina Sochacki, senior consultant for Al Tamimi & Company in Jeddah.

Furthermore, S&P Global predicted in October that private healthcare in Saudi Arabia would experience “sustainable strong demand” as “most providers plan to expand” amid “favourable demographics, ambitious national transformation programme targets, and relative under-penetration”.

The new 145-bed, $160 million Women’s Health Hospital in Riyadh’s Al Rahmaniyah district, owned by the Tadawul-listed Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Group, started receiving patients on October 13.

Another Saudi private healthcare provider, the Dr Soliman Abdel Kader Fakeeh Hospital Co (Fakeeh Care), awarded $23 million in contracts in September as it develops a new 200-bed hospital in Mecca and another 22-clinic facility in Jeddah. 

Preventative services

But it is not just traditional hospitals that are sprouting up across the country. Vision 2030 also targets preventative services. That is prompting the development of ancillary, next-generation centres. 

Burjeel Holdings, a private healthcare group listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange, said in October that it would add 11 new rehabilitation and wellness centres to the 17 it already operates across Saudi Arabia in partnership with the local fitness and sports company Leejam under the name PhysioTherabia. 

The physiotherapy facilities, in Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, Dammam and other cities, will ultimately grow to 60 in the country to treat sports injury and chronic pain, and support post-surgery recovery, the company said last month. 

“Due to the high prevalence of lifestyle diseases in KSA, there is more focus on preventative health and fitness,” Mansoor Ahmed, an advisor for healthcare, life sciences and real estate in the Gulf, says.  

This has led to the establishment of new wellness physiotherapy centres and facilities, as well as ongoing work to build specialised medical centres for neuroscience, mental health and addiction treatment, “to address specific healthcare needs within the population,” Ahmed says.

Among the challenges for authorities in the next 10 years, he says, is to develop the long-term care, rehabilitation and home care segments to lift the weight on traditional hospitals as the population increases and demand grows. 

Around 22,600 long term care and 20,600 rehabilitative beds will be needed by 2035 for a cost of anywhere between $11.6 billion and $22.5 billion, Ahmed says, citing estimates from Colliers International, a professional services company.

“An improved home care provision will reduce the pressure on both acute care and long term care and rehabilitation hospitals,” Ahmed says.

“The target under the Ministry of Health’s private sector participation initiative is to increase home care coverage annually from 35,000 in 2019 to 133,000 to 145,000 by 2030.”