Al Zarooni to open four more fertility centres across GCC and India

Dr Pankaj Shrivastav, right, and Farhat Unnisa at the Conceive Fertility Center in Sharjah with a cannister containing frozen embryos. Randi Sokoloff / The National

Dubai-based Al Zarooni Emirates Investments plans to open four more Bourn Hall fertility centres spread across the GCC and India by the end of the year as the demand for such services grows.

The investment firm, along with the venture capital firm TVM Capital Mena, helped to open the region’s first Bourn Hall Clinic in Dubai in 2012, which can treat 50 couples a day. In-vitro fertilisation packages start at Dh32,000.

The UK-based clinic also has two centres in India.

The company declined to provide further details, including the size of its investment.

The fertility rate in the UAE has declined to 1.7 children per woman, or halved in the past 30 years, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations. As a result, fertility centres such as the ones at Burjeel Hospital, HealthPlus Fertility Center and Fakih IVF in Abu Dhabi, and Conceive Fertility Center in Sharjah have found a growing market in recent years.

But strict regulations and restrictions on conducting certain procedures make it a tough market to crack, said Sandeep Sinha, the vice president for health care practice for Middle East, North Africa and South Asia at Frost and Sullivan.

“The infertility market [in the UAE] witnesses a lot of patient movement from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia,” he said.

Al Zarooni Emirates also said that it would acquire 15 per cent of the long-term home nursing facility Manzil Health Care Services in Abu Dhabi this quarter.

“The objective is to grow it to become a regional player in the three to five years,” Adil Al Zarooni, the chief executive of Al Zarooni Emirates Investments referring to Manzil Health Care Services. He declined to give the total value of the projects. “Home care is where the whole industry is going towards, because it is savings in the long term for the government and it helps save trips to the hospital.”

The firm is planning to expand Manzil to Dubai and the wider region towards the end of next year.

Al Zarooni Emirates has also invested in other long term health care facilities such as Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Center and ProVita International Medical Center in the Abu Dhabi emirate. While patients at Cambridge require rehabilitation, the condition of those at ProVita are more severe in nature, requiring ventilation and ICU.

The investment firm will also invest in a Dh140m school in Dubai that will cater to students with learning difficulties.

Al Zarooni Emirates Investments manages assets worth $100m.

The country’s and the region’s growing population, high returns on health care investments, and growth of medical tourism are contributing to more investments from the private sector, according to the research company Colliers International.

“The market size of private health care market [in the UAE] equates to almost US$2.5 billion, which is expected to increased to over $4bn by 2020,” said Mansoor Ahmed, the director of health care, education and public-private partnership for the Middle East and North Africa at Colliers International.

The number of private sector hospitals in the UAE has been on the rise. In 2012 there were 65 private hospitals, compared with 51 five years earlier.

Another Dubai-based private equity firm, CedarBridge Partners, which invests in health care and education, is also in talks to invest in a chain of UAE-based health clinics. It invests about $5 million in each company.

“There is a consolidation drive in the clinics and hospital business because there are benefits from economies of scale, as it is difficult to recruit good doctors when you are a small entity or when dealing with insurance companies,” said Imad Ghandour, the managing director at CedarBridge Partners.

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter