Venture Capital Bank and a team of German surgeons establish the German Orthopaedic Hospital in Bahrain

This outstanding project 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 of Bahrain. 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 in Bahrain shall initially focus on:
- Surgical and conservative orthopaedics
- Sports medicine including physiological diagnostics for professionals
- Internal medicine
- Radiology (digital X-ray, MRI)
- Pain therapy

The core medical team will comprise of a carefully selected 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

Mr. Abdullatif Mohammed Janahi, Board Member & CEO of VCBank commented "The idea of creating a German Orthopaedic Hospital by Venture Capital Bank is 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 of Bahrain. 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".

"The German Orthopaedic Hospital will target patients from Bahrain and the region that 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% 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. "

"The bank's strategic directions includes 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 to embrace the following phases of the project, which will include the establishment of a specialized center for medical analysis, and the establishment of an integrated medical complex specializing in orthopedic surgery and setting up an international center for medical rehabilitation,"

Mr. Janahi added.

On his side, Dr. Ahmed Aljawhary, Chief Investment Officer - Venture Capital & Business Development, said "The Hospital's services will be provided by a carefully selected team of German medical professionals, including a world-class surgeon, whose services are constantly sought by regional patients and also health authorities for the treatment of their professional athletes. As such, this initiative fits well with the Bank's strategy, in identifying promising entrepreneurs and building success stories around them.

The Hospital will offer high quality medical services according to international best practices that ensure patient comfort and operational efficiencies. The German Orthopaedic Hospital comes under the umbrella of the German Medical Excellence, a Bahrain based company owned by Venture Capital Bank. The company aims to development similar medical centres in the region and expand the scope of the German Orthopaedic Hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain."