GCC healthcare market to grow fivefold by 2025

The Gulf’s healthcare market is expected to increase fivefold by 2025, it has been revealed.

Dr Prem Jagyasi, CEO and MD of ExHealth, an agency that provides communications solutions for healthcare stakeholders, believes that the predictions of a steady growth bode well for providers catering to healthcare organisations.

“The healthcare sector in the Gulf has shown considerable resilience in the face of the economic downturn and the forecast is for this to continue,” he said.

“It is estimated that by 2025, the Gulf’s healthcare market will increase fivefold and this steady growth has created opportunities for specialist providers offering tertiary services for the industry.”

Dr Jagyasi said the growth in the healthcare sector is being underpinned by a maturing of the market, in which both major and minor players are outsourcing aspects of their operations to specialists in order to steal a march on their competition.

He cited communications as being one area where stakeholders are keen to maintain their edge.

“Spreading the word about your organisation is a fundamental ingredient for success and effective public relations is vital to get ahead,” he said.

Analysts have valued the GCC healthcare market at being between $15 billion and $18bn last year, with a report published by Alpen Capital estimating that its growth would be about nine per cent annually to reach between $47bn and $55bn by 2020.

This expansion is necessary to service an increasing population, with the GCC’s current population growth rate being around five per cent a year – a rate that will see its 39 million inhabitants double over the next 20 years.

US management consultant McKinsey & Company predicts that the cost of healthcare in the GCC will increase by 240 per cent over this period.

In addition to the continued relocation of expatriates to the Gulf, life expectancy among its established population is rising. The average age of a GCC inhabitant is now 76 years, which is just two years less than that of a US citizen.

This figure is between 20 and 50 per cent more than the Gulf countries life expectancies in 1970, revealing the great strides that have been made in the region’s healthcare provision over the past 40 years.