Bangkok Dusit eyes major expansion in the Middle East

BGH operates the Bangkok Hospital Network, Samitivej Hospital and BNH Hospital. The group runs 19 hospitals in Thailand and abroad.

CEO Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth yesterday said BGH was interested in investing in Saudi Arabia if its relationship with Thailand recovered.

"I've heard the relationship between our country and Saudi Arabia will recover within a year. If that's true, I'm interested in doing business there," he said.

BGH is building a small 30-bed hospital in Abu Dhabi that is scheduled to begin operations in December.

Prasert said he also saw China as a potential market for medical services over the next eight years but had short-term reservations.

He believes China will face a shortage of about 120,000 doctors by 2016, because although the country's gross domestic product grows by double digits each year, the people still prefer traditional, rather than modern, medicine.

"The BGH group - as well as other Thai hospitals - must prepare itself for that problem if it occurs as I expect. Although I see it as an opportunity for our group, it's too early for an investment in that country. We don't have enough medical personnel at the moment," he said.

Prasert revealed that some state hospitals in China had approached him to operate or take over local hospitals but that - for now - he had rejected the overtures.

He said BGH expected revenue of Bt22 billion this year, up almost 16 per cent per cent from last year's Bt19 billion. The group will open new hospitals in Abu Dhabi, Cambodia and Hua Hin and targets revenue of Bt26 billion next year.

"After expansion abroad, I'll aim for revenue growth of 20 per cent per annum and a net profit yield of 10 per cent," he said.

Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre CEO Chatree Duangnet said if the Abu Dhabi hospital went well, the group would immediately begin building a medium-sized hospital there with 250 beds, worth Bt3 billion.

BGH is also in talks in Qatar and Saudi Arabia about building new hospitals in the Middle East, Chatree said.