Healthcare spend high
Healthcare spend in Bahrain, as a proportion of GDP, is higher than other GCC countries, but still fall short of global averages and is much below the spending in developed countries, according to a research by Al Masah Capital, the Dubai-based alternative asset management company.
On a per capita basis, the GCC spending on healthcare was US$1,022, compared with the world average of US$1,062. The United States
spends around US$9,000 on a per capita basis on healthcare whereas Japan and the United Kingdom spend around US$ 4,000.
“The healthcare sector, accounting for about 10 per cent of the world’s GDP, has been critical to global economic growth over the years. Global spending on healthcare increased to US$7.6 trillion in 2013 from US$3.9trn in 2003.
However, the healthcare spending pattern across the globe has been uneven with high-income countries spending a large share of their GDP on healthcare while developing countries gradually increasing their healthcare spend,” Shailesh Dash, founder and CEO of Al Masah Capital, explained.
The Dubai-based alternative asset management company noted that GCC nations, which account for about 52pc of the healthcare expenditure of the MENA region, recorded healthcare spend of US$49.8 billion in 2013 versus US$15.5bn in 2003.
Related Posts