Egypt rolls out the red carpet for India’s healthcare players

The land of the pyramids beckons healthcare providers from India.
Egypt, one of the largest markets for healthcare in Africa, wants players from countries such as India to tap its booming potential.

Rachid Mohamed Rachid, minister of trade and industry and acting minister of investment, government of Egypt, says investments will be aggressively sought in sectors such as healthcare and the country’s population of 80 million implies tremendous opportunity.

“We want to make healthcare in Egypt more organised. Hence we would provide access to accreditation to foreign service providers, easy licences, attractive pricing policies, etc.” said Rachid.
According to Osama Saleh, chairman, General Authority for Investment (GAFI), which is the principal governmental authority in Egypt concerned with facilitating investment, the government is working on establishing a unified corporate law that will make setting up businesses faster and easier.

“We are making a trip to Mumbai and New Delhi in November to attract investment opportunities and healthcare is a key area. Our economy has been growing at 6% and is expected to grow at 7% in the coming years.”

According to estimates by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), healthcare spending in Egypt increased by 22% in 2009 to reach $13.3 billion and is expected to further grow on account of factors such as an aging population, the government’s plans for universal health insurance and an increase in lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes, etc

According to data from the Central Bank of Egypt, the total net Indian investment in Egypt reached $68.8 million between 2003-04 and 2008-09.

“India has become Egypt’s 4th largest trading partner, after the US, Italy and Spain. Besides IT, infrastructure and manufacturing, healthcare is another key area for foreign players to set up base in Egypt,” said Saleh.

Vishal Bali, CEO, Fortis Hospitals says as the entire African continent is under-served in terms of healthcare services, the geography is very promising. “The Fortis network is growing, and key markets in Africa such as Egypt hold potential.”

O P Manchanda, CEO, of Dr Lal PathLabs, a chain of 60 pathology laboratories says the company would look towards setting up ground level operations in Egypt. “We would like to set up labs in that country in future, but no specific timeline can be given now.”
Ritika Arora, senior consultant, Technopak Advisors, said specialty disciplines such as women and child care, cardiac care, cancer, neurology, urology, are high potential areas for Indian players looking at Egypt.