Bahrain’s Investcorp announces Abu Dhabi hospital partnership

Bahrain’s Investcorp has partnered with healthcare operator VAMED and Blue Apple Partners to build a hospital complex on Abu Dhabi’s Reem Island.

The first phase of the project will comprise a rehabilitation centre with more than 100 beds.

The facility will be built and operated by VAMED and provide orthopaedic, cardiovascular, neurological, and oncological post-acute treatments and care for both in-patients and out-patients.

It is scheduled to open at the end of next year.

A second phase will add a children’s and women’s hospital with more than 100 beds and a range of general and specialised paediatric surgery and treatments. It will also offer comprehensive gynaecology and obstetrics services and a neonatal intensive care unit.

The children’s and women’s hospital will be operated by VAMED in cooperation with Berlin’s Charité university hospital.

Other aspects of the partnership include a family medical medical centre providing preventative care, ambulatory healthcare services and urgent care that is set to open by the end of 2019.

Blue apple, whose chairman Zaid Daoud Al Siksek is the former CEO of the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi, will be responsible for promoting the facilities.

“[The hospital] will provide the full spectrum of integrated primary, secondary and tertiary care in specialised rehabilitation services and gynaecology, obstetrics and paediatrics, areas where there are currently still significant shortages and ensure that Abu Dhabi is ready to meet the needs of its growing population,” Al Siksek said.

Investcorp said the investment was encouraged by a significant gap in the availability of high quality rehabilitation facilities in the UAE.

“Investcorp has always kept a close eye on the healthcare sector in the Gulf,” said Investcorp executive chairman Mohammed Alardhi. “We are aware of the growing demand for quality healthcare in the region and are keen to play a key role in its development in the short and long term.”

The investment is Investcorp’s third healthcare deal after launching a healthcare fund earlier this year.

The UAE has attracted a number of specialised international players, who have identified gaps in the healthcare market and the need to reduce travel abroad for treatment.

King’s College Hospital London is set to open its first hospital in the region in Dubai early next year as part of a $200m investment joint venture backed by Al Tayer Group, Dubai Investments and UK-based Ashmore Group.

Read: King’s College Hospital London’s UAE CEO on improving healthcare in the country