Sharjah launches plan for healthcare city

Sharjah's ruler on Tuesday issued a decree to set up a new healthcare free zone, aimed at attracting international companies to the emirate. Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi announced the setting up of the Sharjah Health Care City (SHCC) to be supervised by Sharjah Health Authority. SHCC will be a corporate body with full financial and administrative independence and full competence to initiate legal procedures, according to the new decree cited by state news agency WAM. The new initiative aims to promote Sharjah as an international hub for healthcare and services as well as establishing hospitals and medical and healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. The free zone will also look to attract centres for supplementary treatment, physiotherapy and massage, medical advice, medical logistics and any IT activities relating to healthcare industry, the decree said. The decree added that the government of Sharjah would not be responsible or liable for any debts or commitments by SHCC or affiliate companies and establishments. The GCC's healthcare sector is set to grow by an annual rate of 11 percent and will be worth nearly $44bn by 2015, Alpen Capital said in a recent report. Saudi Arabia and the UAE will leave the growth in the region with outpatient and inpatient markets are expected to account for 82 percent and 18 percent respectively of the overall market size, Alpen added. The demand for number of hospital beds is expected to be 93,992 in 2015, an addition of 8,669 beds from 2010, which is in line with the expected supply pipeline, the study said.