Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the largest healthcare network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are launching a joint venture to operate Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, one of the UAE’s largest hospitals for patients with serious or complex medical conditions.
Mayo Clinic will become a shareholder in the new operating company, which is a new type of partnership by an international healthcare provider in the UAE, officials said.
SEHA is one of the largest integrated health care providers in the Middle East, operating 12 hospitals with 2,644 beds, more than 60 ambulatory care, family care and urgent care centers and two blood banks. Its facilities accommodate 100,000 inpatients annually and conduct 41,000 surgeries, as well as treating more than 5 million outpatients.
Teams from both SEHA and Mayo will work together to open Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, a 741-licensed-bed hospital, with the goal of building it into a "premier destination for medical care in the Middle East over the next decade." It will provide specialty care across a range of clinical practices.
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The agreement was signed by H.E. Salem Rashid Al Noaimi, chairman of SEHA, and Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This is a collaboration and a unique partnership in the region, with Mayo Clinic physicians, nurses, administrators and others working side by side with colleagues from SEHA," Farrugia said in a statement. "Mayo Clinic's humanitarian mission and values are the foundation of our international strategy, which includes sharing and extending our culture, clinical knowledge and health care delivery expertise to help meet the needs of patients wherever they are."
Previously, Mayo and SEHA collaborated on a plan to activate 24 specialty clinics.
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City opened and began accepting patients earlier this month and is expected to be in full operation, including all inpatient departments, in early 2020, officials said. The more than 3.2 million-square-foot multispecialty hospital will be staffed by 2,240 caregivers, including more than 440 internationally trained physicians, officials said.