The Apex Medical Group (AMG) has signed its first land acquisition deal as part of plans to set up a $1bn medical city in the seaside resort of Salalah, Oman. AMG will develop a medical city to include a 530-bed hospital, a regional organ transplant and rehabilitation centre, a diagnostic and medical prevention centre, healthcare resort and a healthcare education complex. The medical city will also have a luxury hotel, wellness centre, and will also offer free medical and educational community support services to poor families.
The project will be developed initially on 500,000 sq m of land but AMG has government approval to expand on a further 300,000 sq m. The site is already connected to major utilities including electricity, gas, water and telecommunications. It is just 15 minutes drive from the Salalah International airport which is undergoing expansion so it can deal with up to 6 million passengers a year; due for completion in 2014. It is in line with the Oman government’s five-year tourism development plan and is the first healthcare infrastructure development project in Oman being set up by a private investor. The medical city project also aims to tap the inbound medical tourism market.
AMG is a subsidiary of Aljoaib Holding, a Saudi group with diversified portfolio of business in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Company founder Dr Abdullah Al-Joaib says an agreement had been signed with the Oman authorities for the integrated medical tourism complex in Salalah, which aims to put Oman on the global medical tourism map, “The strategic vision of the project is to create a high quality sustainable healthcare led mixed use development that functions as a vibrant, sustainable and self sufficient community and place Oman as a preferred destination for medical tourism.”
Oman’s Vision 2020, revolves around establishing Oman as a regional travel and tourism hub, increasing the contribution of travel and tourism to at least 3% of GDP, increasing the participation of the private sector in the development of tourism activities and increasing the Omanization to 80% in the tourism sector.
Sandeep Sinha of Frost & Sullivan comments, “The initiative of an integrated medical tourism complex in Salalah by the Oman authorities is justified to meet the healthcare needs of Oman and the GCC region. Oman has the lowest per capita expenditure in healthcare across the GCC region though the increase in population is second highest. Expenditure on healthcare in Oman is also second last across GCC. Additionally, Oman lags behind in both public hospitals as well as private beds across the GCC region. This new setup is primarily expected to address the need for healthcare facilities in Oman and provide huge opportunities for medical tourism across the GCC and neighboring countries.”
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