Swedish Minister of Trade, Ann Linde, Visits Diaverum's Integrated Renal Care Centre in Riyadh

On October 23rd, 2017, Ann Linde, Swedish Minister of Trade, went to Saudi Arabia together with a large Swedish delegation consisting of representatives from universities, public authorities and senior executives from the industry. The purpose of the visit was to promote trade between the two nations with Saudi Arabia being one of Sweden’s most important export markets.

The delegation visited Diaverum’s Integrated Renal Care Centre (IRCC) in Riyadh and was shown around the premises by Ziyad Kabli, Diaverum Managing Director for Middle East. During the visit they had the opportunity to interact with nurses and medical staff working at Diaverum. Apart from 30 dialysis stations the IRCC also features a training center with educational programs for patients and employees. Training is performed in accordance with Diaverum’s global education programme d.ACADEMY.

Dag Andersson, CEO at Diaverum, held a presentation about Diaverum’s success story in Saudi Arabia. “We opened our first clinic in Saudi Arabia in 2011 in the city of Damman to demonstrate our our excellence in serving patients with end stage renal disease. In 2013 we were awarded a contract by the Ministry of Health to open centres across the Kingdom to treat several thousand patients. Today we operate 34 centers”, Dag Andersson explained.

When Diaverum opened the first clinic in 2014 it was the first private company to enter into a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) in Saudi Arabia. Since then Diaverum’s organization in Saudi Arabia has been developed under the leadership of Ziyad Kabli. The fully localized management team has successfully established best practices through a “think global and act local-approach” as described by Dag Andersson.

The mission of Diaverum’s team in Middle East is to deliver first class renal care to improve the quality of life for renal patients. And in order to succeed with this the current strategies include a strong focus on recruiting and educating medical staff, improve operational efficiency, and always deliver excellent medical results. Diaverum is also fully transparent when it comes to medical results and patient satisfaction scores with the Ministry of Health to demonstrate the value the company provides.

“We are proud of what we have accomplished in Saudi Arabia but we are also very eager to move into the next steps of our plan to offer outpatient preventive care. As a global healthcare organization, preventive care is of utmost importance. Our role in society is to increase the quality of life for renal patients by providing top class renal care. But also, through the use of our extensive knowledge in the area, help improve the health of Saudi Arabian citizens who are at risk of developing renal failure”, said Ziyad Kabli.