RIYADH: Saudi Dallah Health Co. has seen the number of patients increase from about 715,000 in 2012 to more than 1.7 million by 2021, boosting the healthcare scenario in the region.
Speaking to Arab News, Tarek Othman Alkasabi, chairman of the Board of Directors at Dallah Health, said the increase in healthcare services could be attributed to its expansion from a single hospital to five. The company also added 13 beauty clinics and launched a major pharmaceutical distribution company, Dallah Pharma, since it was listed on the Tadawul exchange in 2012.
Over the same period, revenue has surged exponentially from about SR637 million ($169.7 million) in 2012 to SR2.11 billion in 2021, according to Alkasabi.
Dallah Health currently offers medical services across major Saudi Arabian cities such as Riyadh, Makkah and Jeddah.
Tarek Othman Alkasabi
Wealth in health
As part of its expansion plans, the executive noted that Dallah seeks to establish its operations in Riyadh to meet the growing demand for healthcare services, distribution, and production of medicines.
“We are also focused on expanding in the most populated areas of the Kingdom, such as the eastern and western regions,” Alkasabi said.
“Regarding international expansion, our efforts are focused through Dallah Pharma, a direct subsidiary of Dallah Health, which has a license to produce 40 pharmaceutical and cosmetic products for marketing across the Kingdom and is looking to expand into international markets,” he added.
In terms of investments and acquisitions, Dallah had recently acquired an 8.2 percent stake in International Medical Co. as part of a strategy to enhance its footprint in Jeddah.
Alkasabi said the company seeks to eventually acquire 27.2 percent in International Medical, adding that it’s “constantly evaluating opportunities that will allow us to bring our quality care to the wider Saudi community.”
When asked if the company has any plans to borrow, he said: “The option to tap the debt market is always open, and we have long-standing relationships that we could leverage if we wanted to.”
The way forward
The Dallah leadership recently launched a five-year strategy to achieve strategic goals by 2026, including improving patient experience in Dallah facilities by redesigning patient-centric journeys, using data to identify required changes, and digitizing operations throughout our organization network.
According to Dallah Health’s new five-year strategy, the company will be investing in digitalizing patient experiences and operations across all hospitals and facilities by implementing state-of-the-art core solutions and comprehensive digital infrastructure.
As part of the Ministry of Health’s e-health strategy, Dallah is striving to enhance patient convenience by using telemedicine and online appointments to improve e-health adoption.
“Currently, we are seeing an increasing amount of private sector involvement in healthcare across the Kingdom,” said Alkasabi.
He expects the trend to continue as the Kingdom progresses with its transformation of the healthcare sector under the Vision 2030 blueprint.
Dallah Health booked strong financial results during 2021, posting a 104 percent increase in profit to SR275 million, while revenues grew by 60 percent to stand at SR2.11 billion by the end of 2021.
In the second quarter of this year, Dallah reported a 59 percent surge in profit SR82.8 million, driven primarily by higher revenues due to continued patient increases and improved efficiency.
Shares of the Saudi-listed company soared 54 percent since the beginning of the year to close at SR116 on June 15.