The UAE’s largest healthcare group Pure Health has committed to spend Dh10 billion ($2.72bn) over the next 10 years on procuring products locally and supporting the country's economy.
The group signed an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) on the second day of the “Make it in the Emirates” forum in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, Pure Health and MoIAT will collaborate on initiatives to stimulate local industrial content, capitalise on opportunities within the healthcare sector and conduct training programmes to upskill the national workforce, the statement said.
“The agreement with Pure Health is a huge boost to the national ICV [In-Country Value] programme, which aims to redirect expenditure from leading national companies and government entities into the local economy by prioritising local suppliers,” Omar Al Suwaidi, undersecretary of the MoIAT, said.
Currently, 45 government entities, six national companies and 5,500 local industrial companies are participating in the ICV scheme that was launched as part of the Projects of the 50 initiative last year.
UAE leaders announce plans to boost local manufacturing
In the first year of its implementation at the federal level, the scheme has “succeeded in redirecting more than Dh40bn into the national economy”, Mr Al Suwaidi said.
In January, Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ signed a deal to merge its healthcare subsidiaries, including Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, better known as Seha, and the National Health Insurance Company (Daman) with Alpha Dhabi’s Pure Health to create the UAE’s largest healthcare provider.
ADQ also merged its healthcare entities Rafed and Union71 with Pure Health last year.
“Our agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology is a pivotal step in our long-term plan to localise knowledge, as we are already a part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Farhan Malik, managing director of Pure Health, said.
Pure Health owns 28 hospitals, 100 clinics and more than 160 laboratories across the UAE, Ahmed Al Bastaki, chief commercial officer of Rafed, told The National on the sidelines of the forum.
