DUBAI // A hospital for women and children is aiming to have an all-female staff in the near future.
They already make up 87 per cent of the 500 staff at the 100-bed Medcare Women and Children Hospital, which hopes to encourage more women to pay attention to their own health and not delay seeking treatment for conditions.
The hospital, off Sheikh Zayed Road in Safa 2, already has women only in its radiology and gynaecology departments.
It was officially inaugurated on October 6 by Princess Haya of Jordan, wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
“Our dream is to make this 100 per cent powered by women,” said Dr Shanila Laiju, chief operating officer for the Medcare Group.
“Hopefully we will be able to do that very soon because now there are ladies in all the specialities. We want this to be a one-stop shop for all women’s needs.”
The hospital specialises in obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, gastroenterology, endocrinology, urology, plastic surgery, general surgery, dermatology and dentistry.
It is hoped that the large female staff will encourage women to have regular tests and scans.
“We want to use this as leverage to encourage women to come in,” said Alisha Moopen, chief executive of hospitals at Aster DM Healthcare. “Sometimes as women we think that if we don’t know, we don’t have to deal with health issues, especially when they are our own.
“When it is about others then we are very keen to look after them but, for ourselves, it is the lowest on our priority list and we really want to change that.
“We are hoping the comfort level for women to come and do tests will be higher in a facility like this.”
During October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there will be screening programmes with mammograms and campaigns to teach women self-examination.
Ms Moopen said women often delayed regular check-ups. “Even if we organise awareness activities sometimes there is reluctance from women to actually do tests that are required at certain stages in their life.
“The differentiating factor we hope will be having a hospital largely manned by women.”
While the official launch was on Thursday, the hospital has been functioning since July with about 170 babies delivered so far each month.
The paediatric centre covers areas such as cardiology, orthopaedics and urology.
The incidence of congenital heart disease is about one in 100, said Dr Sangeetha Viswanathan, a specialist paediatric cardiologist.
“Most will need observation, particularly if they present a condition when they are small babies,” said Dr Viswanathan.
“If some need treatment right away then we do it. But we tend to wait either for spontaneous resolution or until a child gets a bit older for surgery.”
The hospital has a swimming pool for patients and will soon have a yoga centre, spa and salon.
The cost each day is Dh1,300 for a single room, Dh6,500 for a deluxe room and Dh9,000 for a suite.
Medcare Women and Children Hospital is the first speciality hospital run largely by women.
Another run by women for maternity and general medicine opened in Abu Dhabi last year.
rtalwar@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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