Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman and Managing Director of DM Healthcare, and Mohammed Johar, Director of Al Estiana Consortium,exchanging documents at the contract signing ceremony at the Crown Plaza Hotel yesterday. (Salim Matramkot)
DOHA: DM Healthcare, which runs the Aster clinics in Qatar, yesterday announced plans to open its first hospital in the country by early 2015.
The 50-bed Aster hospital will be built in the Airport Area (behind Family Food Centre) at an estimated cost of QR60m, it was disclosed yesterday.
Aster Hospital is the 15th hospital of DM Healthcare, a leading healthcare conglomerate in the GCC and India, and its ninth multi-speciality hospital in the GCC.
The group yesterday signed an agreement with Qatar-based Al Estiana Real Estate Development, which will be responsible for construction and commissioning of the hospital project.
“We have been serving people in Qatar for over the past 10 years and our six Aster clinics are receiving 1,500 patients daily on an average,” Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman and Managing Director of DM Healthcare, told a press conference at Crown Plaza hotel.
“We are now entering the tertiary sector with our first Aster Hospital that will be ready in two years,” he said.
Asked about services and the fee structure of the new hospital, he said: “We mainly target the middle-income segment of the population and families coming in the income bracket of QR7,000 to QR12,000 (per month).
“However, such considerations will become immaterial when Qatar implements the proposed national insurance scheme in the next three years.”
Aster Hospital will offer general specialities such as family medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics, paediatrics, dentistry, ophthalmology, ENT, orthopaedics, dermatology, general surgery as well as services such as clinical psychology, physiotherapy and diet and nutrition, etc.
The diagnostic services in radiology such as MRI scan, CT scan and digital X-Ray and Pax services will be made available along with full-fledged pathology services through an advanced laboratory.
The hospital will also have physical rehabilitation departments and a well-equipped pharmacy.
The facility will be connected through satellite networks with Aster medical and diagnostic centres and pharmacies in Qatar.
Mohammed Johar, Director of Al Estiana; Hamad Mubarak Al Khater, Chairman of Al Khater Business Centre; Dr Sameer Moopan, CEO of DM Healthcare’s Operations in Qatar; Mohamad Meslah and CEO of Al Khater Sharafuddin Iqbal, among other dignitaries, were present at the signing ceremony.
Al Estiana is a consortium for developing hospitals and schools in Qatar, formed by Al Khater Business Centre, Al Umra Real Estate and Al Magd Development.
DM Healthcare launched operations in Qatar in 2003 and operates six medical centres, six pharmacies and two diagnostic centres. They are located in residential and business districts, including Musherib, C Ring Road, Al Hilal, Al Rayyan, Al Khor and Industrial Area.
The Peninsula
