Abu Dhabi: Al Noor Hospitals Group, a private healthcare service provider in Abu Dhabi, reported on Tuesday revenues of $224.8 million for the first half of 2014, marking a 25 per cent increase from the $179.5 million during the same period last year.
A statement released by Al Noor showed that outpatient volumes rose 19.7 per cent over the first half of 2013, while inpatient volumes increased 1.2 per cent compared with H1 2013.
In a telephone interview with Gulf News, Dr Sami Alom, chief strategy officer at Al Noor, attributed the increase in revenues primarily to the physician hiring program, which helps attracts more patients.
“We took on board a lot of doctors in 2013. We now are seeing them being productive and contributing to that growth in our patient volume. In addition to that, you have the roll-out of our medical centres. We’re very interested in increasing our footprint throughout the emirates and outside,” Alom said.
The group acquired three facilities in the past year, bringing the total number of centres to 16.
Increase in demand
To boost numbers even further during the second half of the year, Al Noor will continue to hire physicians to meet with the expected increase in demand from patients. Such increase in demand comes from a rapidly ageing demographic, an increase in lifestyle-related medical conditions such as diabetes and obesity, and service gaps in the market.
“We’re very interested in growing outside of Abu Dhabi, so Dubai is an area of focus for us. We’re having exploratory talks with some parties in Dubai and elsewhere to see if there’s potential for an acquisition,” Alom said, noting that there is nothing definitive as of yet.
He added that entering the Dubai market through an acquisition would be an advantage as the group could build on an already-existing database of patients and doctors.
As part of expansion plans, the group signed a lease to open a medical centre in Sharjah, and is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2015.
Construction on the new 40-bed hospital in Al Ain is also on schedule, with expectations to commission the hospital in 2016.
According to the statement released, the principal risks facing the group for the rest of the year are recruitment, licensing, retaining medical staff, mergers and acquisitions, competition, and reputation.
Last week, the board of directors at Al Noor announced that the current chief executive officer, Dr Kassem Alom, will be vacating his post, and stepping down as an executive director on October 1. The group has hired Ronald Lavatar, who joins from Johns Hopkins Medicine International to replace him.
