Diaverum enters Asian market by acquiring kidney centres in Kazakhstan

Munich / Almaty, 16 January 2015 – Diaverum, one of the world’s leading renal care providers, today announced the acquisition of Nefros Asia in Kazakhstan with nine kidney centres across the country. The centres will shortly begin the integration into the global renal care network of Diaverum across Europe, Middle East, Latin America and Australia. With the Nefros acquisition, Diaverum is taking a first footstep into the Asian market. Local patients, staff and payers will benefit from Diaverum’s high standards of clinical excellence, world-class training and education programmes, and a patient-first approach.

The centres acquired by Diaverum in Kazakhstan are located in Almaty, Kaskelen, Karaganda, Kokshetau, Kostanay, Aktobe, Aksai and Uralsk.

Dag Andersson, President and CEO of Diaverum, commented: “Chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease is a growing concern in Kazakhstan, like in many other countries in Asia. We are committed to being a strong partner to the government of Kazakhstan in bringing world-class specialist renal care to the Kazakh people.”

With a strong history in haemodialysis treatments at its core, Diaverum is transforming itself into an integrated renal care provider with the aim of providing and coordinating renal and non-renal medical services around the renal patient.

“Diaverum’s integrated renal care concept delivers improved medical outcomes and a better experience for patients suffering chronic kidney disease and related comorbidities. At the same time, it enables governments to keep control of the escalating costs of treating chronic diseases. Through our integrated renal care model, Diaverum adds value to the healthcare system and the society,” explained Mr Andersson.

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country in Central Asia, with its smaller European part west of the Ural River. Covering 2.7M square kilometres it is the ninth largest country in the world, with a total population of 18 million people. Worldwide, more than three million people suffer from end-stage renal disease (ESRD). In Kazakhstan, renal disease presents a large challenge with strong growth in the number of patients needing renal replacement therapy. In 2013, approximately 2,100 dialysis patients were in need of renal replacement therapy. By the end of 2014 this figure is estimated to have risen to approximately 3,800 patients.

“Kazakhstan is currently increasing the number of facilities for dialysis treatments across the country, but the quality is still in need of improvement,” said Sardar Sadykov, Managing Director of Diaverum Kazakhstan. “This is where Diaverum can help. Our focus is to deliver the highest quality of care through our well-trained and motivated healthcare professionals, and through investing in highest quality medical clinics and equipment. Our kidney centres distinguish themselves through our trained medical staff, safe procedures, efficient operations and an absolute focus on medical outcomes and patient satisfaction.”

Proven expertise in new markets

When acquiring new centres and taking on the responsibility of the renal patients treated there, Diaverum devotes significant efforts to integrating the clinics through a 100-day and 1-year integration plan. During this process Diaverum ensures that its high standards of medical quality and safety are fully implemented, while at the same time making all additional investments required to run the clinics in a safe and efficient way.

“In our Area Middle East & Asia, this is demonstrable in Saudi Arabia where we were recently awarded 50 per cent of a tender from the Ministry of Health, which is currently being implemented. We have already opened a number of clinics, and in a few years’ time we will operate some 90 kidney centres in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan represent the beginning of our eastward expansion, and we look forward to bringing our high quality care to more markets in the Middle East and Asia,” said Dag Andersson.

Adding value through international know-how

One key element of being successful in new markets is the transfer of international know-how. In Saudi Arabia, so called integration nurses, recruited from existing Diaverum kidney centres all over the world, are training local staff to ensure the company’s stringent medical and operational policies and procedures are followed to guarantee highest quality. The same approach might be used in Kazakhstan, to ensure that international best practice is transferred to the new Diaverum clinics in the country.