Sobhi Batterjee is the president and chief executive of the Jeddah-based Saudi German Hospitals Group, which opened a hospital in Dubai last year. On the sidelines of the 38th edition of the Arab Health exhibition in Dubai last week, he talked about why it makes business sense to provide health care in Yemen and medical tourism in the UAE.
Why did you open in Dubai, where several international hospitals are present?
We were the only regional brand to be recruited by the Government of Dubai to start our project here and we welcomed the idea because we felt the future is here. Dubai will be the Hong Kong of the Middle East. We are targeting those top 2 per cent of India, Iran, east Russia and all Africa to come to Dubai for treatment.
I would not be surprised if Dubai can attract patients from Europe. The locals know the lands. So we know the values. We have been competing traditionally with much more powerful local brands such as King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Saudi military hospitals and King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Saudi Arabia.
You opened a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, five years ago. Why does it make business sense to go there?
We reduced travel abroad in Yemen [for healthcare reasons] in five years by at least 50 per cent. And we are now making money in Yemen, after five years of hard work. We have treated more than 400,000 people there. Unless we do business with the poor, they will be poor forever. If nobody does business with [Microsoft and Apple] they would go bankrupt. That's what is happening with the poor. If you take a Rolls-Royce to sell it to somebody in the jungle, nobody would buy it. You have to make a vehicle that will work in the jungle, and he can afford to buy it. That's what we are doing in Yemen.
How do the prices compare?
We are doing normal deliveries for US$150 (Dh550) in Yemen. It is one tenth of the price we do in Saudi Arabia and probably one twentieth of the price in Dubai. We have to understand there is volume there, and appreciation.
How do you think Dubai can better its position in medical tourism?
Regulations [in Dubai] now allow [medical] professionals to move from the private to the government sector without any restrictions, because they get more benefits in the government sector. This will cause the vicious cycle of price escalation. And this will drive the local private sector out of competition from world medical tourism.
We can't compete with India, Bangkok, Malaysia and Singapore [unless this stops]. But Dubai has the advantage of infrastructure. Patients need rehabilitation and Dubai is positioned for that with excellent hotels, safety, beaches, restaurants and tourist areas. Patients would love to come and stay for one to two months there. Moreover, patients have a lot of difficulty in going to Europe and the United States due to visa restrictions. So Dubai has a golden opportunity.
ssahoo@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
