The UAE's most high-tech hospital needs to find almost 100 doctors and 300 nurses amid a local and global shortage of medical staff before it opens in 2013, its chief executive said.
The new Mafraq Hospital will replace the existing facility - but to do so it needs to increase its workforce by between 30 and 35 per cent.
The chief executive, John Nickens, said it will rely heavily on word of mouth and Bumrungrad International, the company that manages the hospital, to find the additional employees.
But he added the facility - located 35 kilometres from the capital - is on track to open on schedule.
"There is always a shortage of staff," Mr Nickens said. "There has been a shortage for as long as I have been in this industry, 25 years."
He said the major challenge was managing the multitude of cultures that pass through the hospital's doors. "Our patients are from many different parts of the world. We have to cater for this when it comes to the staff," Mr Nickens said.
The old and new hospitals will need to run in parallel for at least a year while staff and patients are transferred, he added.
The new hospital will open with 499 beds and 250 more are planned. Staff will also need to be recruited to work in a separate women and children's pavilion, a new sleep clinic and VIP floors. According to the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD), the number of doctors and nurses in the capital needs to double over the next decade.
Hospitals have previously complained that their efforts to hire more staff from abroad are hampered by long and bureaucratic licensing procedures.
"The population in our catchment area is growing at about five per cent a year," said Mr Nickens. Most of the growth is expected to be off-island, and therefore in Mafraq's natural catchment area.
"In future, 60 per cent of the population of [central] Abu Dhabi will be living here, and the remaining 40 per cent on the island.
"When that happens, the new Mafraq Hospital will be in the most populated part of the emirate. It needs to grow."
The hospital has 308 doctors, 792 nurses and 392 beds. It already has one of the biggest trauma centres in the country. About half its inpatients start their stay in the casualty ward.
Emergency staff treat the victims of at least two road crashes every day and they handle a significant number of patients injured on construction sites.
"It could be a bus of 20 people, or a bus of 50," Mr Nickens said. "Every single day of the year there is an industrial accident victim brought to the trauma centre, sometimes more than one."
There are 20 private cubicles in the old hospital's trauma centre, with another 14 under construction. The new hospital will have 46 cubicles.
According to Dr Biniam Tesfayohannes, the head of the emergency department, up to 80 per cent of the injuries his staff see could have been prevented with better education and tighter safety control.
In summer, there is an influx of patients suffering dehydration and heat stroke. Although companies are legally obliged to provide workers with water and rehydration salts, and give them a midday break, Dr Tesfayohannes said there were still a handful that "slip through the cracks".
"At the moment we see between 25 and 35 people," he said. "It can range from people complaining of heat cramps in their muscles, to people being unconscious."
At least one or two people a week are admitted to intensive care because of severe heat stroke, which can be fatal.
Other injuries, such as those from road crashes or falls from heights on construction sites, are also preventable.
"It is maddening to see a child hurt in a car that is safe," Dr Tesfayohannes said. "This is down to seat belts. A lot of the children are in heavily protected cars, and the roads are good. This shouldn't happen.
"I would say that 70 to 80 per cent of our trauma work would not happen with primary prevention."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
