Profits for the public

ENAR

The region’s healthcare sector currently faces several pressing priorities, including rising rates of lifestyle ailments such as diabetes and heart disease, a growing population and problems of accessibility and quality of care. In addition, the predominant financial model, in which the state assumes most of the financial burden of care, is unsustainable. Both factors have led private equity (PE) firms in other markets to invest into healthcare infrastructure and the delivery of services, thus addressing societal needs while generating attractive returns. Yet, PE investors in the Middle East and North Africa have made only minimal contributions to the reshaping of the healthcare sectors in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and elsewhere in the region. During a recent roundtable discussion organized by the Middle East and North Africa Private Equity Association (MENA PEA) for PE firms, consultants and healthcare practitioners, four factors were named to explain the lack