India, Bahrain expect health trade boom with rising demand of health tech services

• Indian Ambassador to Bahrain emphasises on India’s aim to foster stronger commercial ties with the country. 
• India envisions a more significant role in Bahrain’s expansion of its health care services. 
• Ambassador Srivastava hails India as one of the world’s largest exporter if medical services and pharmaceuticals.

THD NewsDesk, Bahrain: Amidst the increasing demand for health tech services, India and Bahrain are looking forward to a boom in the health trade. 

To deliberate on the promising opportunities to foster trade relations between the two countries, a virtual meeting was held. Hailing India as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, India Ambassador to Bahrain, Piyush Srivastava hoped for a strengthened India’s role in furthering new Gulf partnerships.

Considering the “immense opportunities” offered by Bahrain as a healthcare investment hub, Srivastava said, “India has a good presence in the pharmaceutical and homoeopathy sectors in Bahrain and aspires to further collaborate by contributing to the already strong healthcare infrastructure. There are ample opportunities and a conducive environment for setting up manufacturing units locally in joint ventures or the public-private partnership model.”

The rich demand of medical services worth approximately $20 bn., the pharmaceutical industry across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE is expected to expand. Fortunately for India, 80% of the health care services are imported from outside Bahrain, giving leverage for healthcare exporters like India to grow. 

Focusing on its Vision 2030, the Kingdom aspires to excel in modern medicine and become capable of offering high-quality and financially sustainable health care for its citizens. Moreover, to meet the demands of its growing population, Bahrain aims to acquire more hospital beds.

Tala Fakhro, Executive Director, Market & Strategy Intelligence at Bahrain EDB said,

“Healthcare has long been a critical focus area for Bahrain’s government, which has ambitions of making Bahrain a leading centre for modern medicine. The region’s population, which has a clear unmet need in many disease areas, is growing fast, and Bahrain offers global pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers unparalleled access to this rapidly developing market”.

“Now, in light of the catalytic influence of the global pandemic, the Bahrain-India partnership is once again on the cusp of exciting change. We share Ambassador Srivastava’s optimism regarding pharmaceuticals and medical devices and look forward to discussing in more detail how the ‘pharmacy of the world’ can best establish business ties in these exciting fields with the Gateway to the Gulf,” added Ms Fakhro.

The partnership of India-Bahrain over bilateral trade is not a thing of today, and Bahrain Specialist Hospital has earlier collaborated with Apollo Hospitals to establish a new cardiac centre in Bahrain. 

As of now, the worth of commercial exchange between the countries stands at approximately $1.3 bn. and they have over 3,000 registered joint ventures.

Last year, PM Modi even paid an official visit, first-ever meeting of the Bahrain prince and the Indian PM in a bid to strengthen commercial ties between the two nations.  

Source: Express Healthcare