Venture Capital Bank (VCBank), in collaboration with a group of outstanding German medical professionals, will set up a dedicated orthopaedics and rehabilitation hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The project, German Orthopaedic Hospital, comes as an integral part of VCBank’s plan to create series of medical centres of excellence in different medical disciplines and specialisations in the Kingdom, said a bank official.

The Bank has signed a founders agreement with a group of German specialised surgeons, and is currently planning the implementation of the project in the chosen location.

The Hospital is expected to be operational during the first half of 2009.

The German Orthopaedic Hospital will be positioned so as to fill a huge existing gap in the healthcare market by establishing medical centre of excellence offering first-class orthopaedic and rehabilitation medical services at German standards by German surgeons and medical professionals.

The German Orthopaedic Hospital will initially focus on surgical and conservative orthopaedics; sports medicine including physiological diagnostics for professionals; internal medicine; radiology (digital X-ray, MRI) and pain therapy.

The core medical team will comprise a line-up of German medical doctors and specialists in their field of Orthopaedics including surgeons, anaesthetic and physiotherapy specialists.

The team will be managed by Dr Heinz Röttinger, a world class orthopaedics surgeon who has repeatedly filled responsible positions during hospital start-ups in the past.

Abdullatif Mohammed Janahi, board member and CEO of VCBank said, 'Our idea of creating a German Orthopaedic Hospital was consistent with the strategic directions of the political leadership of the Kingdom of Bahrain, to transform the Kingdom into a regional destination for medical initiatives and projects of a global nature.'

'The project is also consistent with the idea of attracting successful medical business models from developed countries to establish such successful experiences in the Kingdom.'

'On the other hand, it is hoped that the project plays a vital role in the addendum to the medical services sector where the project will become in its following stages a major destination for the training of Bahraini medical staff in various disciplines of orthopaedic and rehabilitation.'

Janahi pointed out that the hospital will target patients from Bahrain and the region who flock to Germany every year for diagnosis of orthopaedic-related illnesses, treatment and rehabilitation.

'As such, it is believed that the German Orthopaedic Hospital will offer a more practical and significantly cost-reduced alternative to medical tourists in countries of the GCC, at the same standard of service to be found in leading German hospitals.'

Considerably less than 50 per cent of the overall costs associated with medical tourism are usually allotted to pure medical services for treatments in Europe.
'The major expense has to be paid for incidental costs, not relating to the medical treatment sought, such as: travel expenses and hotel costs, lengthy stays between the diagnostic measures and the actual therapy, and costs for accompanying relatives,' he noted.

The bank also plans to expand the German Orthopaedic Hospital over the next few years to include an integrated German medical project with double capacity compared with the first phase of the project, in a site currently under study by the bank.

The project, which will be developed in different phases, will include the establishment of a specialised center for medical analysis, and an integrated medical complex specialising in orthopedic surgery and setting up an international center for medical rehabilitation”, Janahi added.

Dr Ahmed Aljawhary, chief investment officer - Venture Capital & Business<