First Investment Of The Abraaj Group In Health Diagnostic Space Of Pakistan

The Abraaj Group is a foremost investor operating in international growth markets, it has announced today about its partnership through its funds with Islamabad Diagnostics Centre (IDC), which is also a foremost diagnostics chain in Pakistan.

IDC

Dr. Rizwan Uppal, the founder of IDC, believed that proper and timely diagnosis is the key to successful treatment. An all under one roof diagnostic service with the name of Islamabad Diagnostic Center (IDC) was established with the support of his two brothers and Executive directors, Dr. Rehan Uppal and Dr. Imran Uppal in the beautiful City of Islamabad more than a decade ago, 2003 to be exact. IDC is a reasonable diagnostics business operating in 20 centers in north Pakistan including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Hasanabdal and Wah Cantonment. The Company is beholding to enlarge its business across Islamabad, Rawalpindi and some more cities in the Punjab province, with the purpose of expanding its presence to over 50 centers in the next five years.

Since beginning, IDC has maintained a positive track record and is identified for its latest imaging advancement in technologies, extensive range of laboratory tests and rapid turn-around times, along with more than 350 staff members and among may of Pakistan’s largest pools of skilled radiologists in its team. It is also known for providing its extraordinary services that is availability of 24/7, 365 days a year, which usually labs don’t provide. Pakistan is probably the sixth most populated country in the biosphere with more than 180 million people, has a moderately underfunded public healthcare structure which is not provided with basic equipment to fulfil the needs of the people. The private sector has been trying to meet the need to fill this gap and 87% of healthcare expenses is funded out-of-pocket. The diagnostics marketplace is awfully fragmented with less than 10 players across the country with more than 20 centers. There are over 200,000 latent healthcare referral points in Pakistan, yet less than 6,000 diagnostic service providers, giving significant room for the sector to cultivate and fulfil the demand of market.

IDC and Abraaj

IDC inscriptions Abraaj’s first investment in Pakistan and fourth investment in the diagnostics space worldwide. Abraaj will be leveraging its proficiency and relationships to support IDC roll out its existence across the whole Punjab region, grow partnerships with government and private hospitals, and develop its service offerings.

Abraaj will also be supporting IDC in recognizing bolt-on acquisitions all over the country and making institutes for the Board of Director (BOD) and its management team. The partnership will be allowing IDC to acquire its equipment and consumables as fragment of the wider healthcare podium and to gain profit from its central investment into analytics, data and insight.

Comments about the Investment

Hisham Moussa is the Managing Director of the Abraaj Group, Commented on the investment as:

“Increased healthcare awareness and a growing requirement for detecting lifestyle diseases is increasing the demand for diagnostics services across Pakistan. IDC is clearly positioned to capitalize on this growth, through its world class infrastructure and diagnostics technology, and its competent management team. This partnership is an important step for us in building our presence in the diagnostics space across South Asia.”

Dr. Rizwan Uppal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IDC also Commented on the investment as:

“14 years ago, IDC started as a concept offering full medical diagnostics services on a 24-hours basis under one roof, with state-of-the-art technologies. We have grown at an exponential rate since then and we have ambitious expansion plans for the years ahead to serve wider population groups, augment the healthcare needs of the community and create more job opportunities. We look forward to the partnership with The Abraaj Group which has an outstanding track record in healthcare and are jointly committed to delivering on the growth plans for IDC.”

The Abraaj Group with a robust track record of capitalizing in healthcare, have deployed more than USD 1.2 billion worldwide in 29 different investments across the healthcare field in growth markets. This Group left its diagnostic platform in 2015, in the Middle East, Unified Diagnostics Holding, through an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. In Pakistan, IDC denotes Abraaj’s first investment into the diagnostics field and the fifth investment in the country for five diverse sectors.