Ramez Al Khayyat
Qatar’s growth has been one of the major economic success stories of the early 21st century. The country enjoyed double digit growth every year between 2006 and 2011 while on its way to registering the highest income per head in the world.
That success was built on oil and natural gas - Qatar has 12% of the world’s proven reserves of the latter. The government understands, however, that sustainable economies must have many relative strengths. Relying on only a handful of sectors can leave a country’s finances exposed to those industries’ ups-and-downs, which can be particularly pronounced in natural resources.
Like many Middle Eastern countries, Qatar has a relatively small private sector. International partnerships have been identified as the best way to build private enterprise, which will in turn help diversify the economy into sectors like construction, tourism and education. Last year’s public private partnerships law was a signal of intent, making it easier for foreign companies to work on $85bn of infrastructure projects by 2030.
Perhaps no sector, though, is more important than healthcare, an industry that is set to be worth $12bn by 2024 – an increase of 360% in just 14 years. The global Covid-19 pandemic has been a difficult reminder to all countries that they need strong medical sectors to protect their populations, including the vital workers who keep economies moving in even the toughest of times.
Fortunately, healthcare investment was already a priority under the Qatar National Vision 2030, which states: “To improve the health of Qatar’s population, Qatar aspires to develop an integrated system for healthcare, managed according to world class standards.” To achieve those standards, Qatar must marry domestic knowledge with international experience, be that of modern methods of construction or applying advanced medical technology.
The state has already set the pace through The Cuban Hospital in the city of Dukhan, located 50 miles west of Doha. This hospital is a joint project between the governments of Qatar and the Republic of Cuba. The workforce includes hundreds of Cuban doctors, nurses and technicians, who are supported by local staff and contractors, and has been in operation for nearly a decade.
The same spirt of collaboration can be recognised in other areas of public healthcare too. The Primary Health Care Corporation which operates through more than 27 healthcare centres in Qatar, partners with a host of national and international organisations including the World Health Organisation, to deliver on its mission to transform the health and wellbeing of the people of Qatar. The Hamad Medical Corporation, a main provider of secondary and tertiary healthcare in the country, collaborates with experts both in Qatar and internationally including from the Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement headquartered in Massachusetts, United States.
We therefore know that Qatar can work well with healthcare experts from different countries and even far away continents. There has, though, been little demonstrable track record of private Qatari operators functioning effectively in joint ventures with foreign healthcare groups.
There is one example emerging on the Doha skyline. Next summer, The View Hospital will open its doors ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, when international business interest in the country is likely to peak. This 242 bed hospital is the first private healthcare partnership in Qatar. Elegancia Healthcare will operate The View Hospital in partnership with the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the Los Angeles-based non-profit academic organisation founded 119 years ago.
The role of the private sector is also set to expand as part of plans to develop a national health insurance scheme. International healthcare operators will have experience working under this type of system, so it makes sense for the domestic market to tap into this knowledge through further partnerships.
As PricewaterhouseCoopers noted in its Qatar Economy Watch 2021 report, published this summer, the growing private sector has been “boosting its [Qatar’s] self-reliance recently”. The report cites Baladna, which has developed a domestic milk industry and is now looking to help other countries do the same, and the work of the Qatar Development Bank in developing small and medium enterprises.
The type of international partnerships being developed in healthcare represent the next step in building Qatar’s private sector, making sure the country’s economy known for more than just its vast natural resources.
This is a paradigm shift and when Qatar’s neighbours see the advantages that this brings, you can be sure that international partnerships will soon be a model adopted across the entire region.
