The focus of medical projects in the GCC will shift from building general hospitals to more specialised facilities, it was claimed today during a panel discussion on social development at the UAE Leaders in Construction Summit 2014.
Given that spending on social infrastructure projects is on the rise across the region, healthcare and education are sectors that are becoming increasingly important.
Sultan Batterjee, chief executive officer, IHCC, said: “The growth is more in developing specialist centres, day care centres, rather than building 500-bed hospitals. People want to have that more one-to-one relationship. We will see that growth over the next four to five years.”
Isabel Cristina Arango – associate director – healthcare operations, Hyder Consulting, said that there needs to be more of a focus on using public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a way of delivering medical projects more efficiently .
“I think it will become the strategy for GCC countries, as government subsidies put a huge strain on finances.”
Jason Burnside – a partner, Godwin Austen Johnson, said there has also been a greater understanding on how school buildings can be better designed to cater for pupils as they go through the education cycle.
“The operators are looking to the trends coming through into education from places like America and the UK,” he said. “The environment that you teach in has a great effort on pupils and staff.”
