(MENAFN - Arab News) The land lease for constructing health care facilities at sharjah healthcare city (shcc) will start by the last quarter of this year said abdulla ali al-mahyan chairman of sharjah health authority and member of the executive council.

the project which is under the directive and vision of sharjah ruler sheikh sultan bin mohammed al-qassimi is at its detailed designing stage.

'our objective is to establish sharjah as the most sought after destination for health care services" he told arab news during an exclusive interview.

'we want to create a one-stop solution for all the health care needs of every individual" said al-mahyan said.

'shcc plans to make it possible by attracting investors across the health care industry to come and operate inside the health care city. we will provide world-class infrastructure easy licensing procedures single-window service etc" said al-mahyan.

'the sharjah health care city will operate as a free zone and the investors will enjoy 100 percent tax and duty free benefits 100 percent business ownership and 100 percent repatriability" he said.

when asked about investments from saudi arabia he said that the kingdom is one among the closest trade partners of uae and 'we realize the importance that the saudi government gives to this sector."

he said: 'we expect a good number of saudi health care investors in shcc. our delegation will be in riyadh during the third week of this month to meet prospective investors along with other segments of sharjah government."

he said shcc was being set up on an extensive area of 1.2 million square meters. it will offer unmatched facilities for health care centers and related services.

'the health-care trend in the region is encouraging. the demand for hospital beds across the region is expected to rise with uae registering the highest projected growth in demand for hospital beds at 160 percent by 2025. by 2020 the gcc may require an excess of 25000 additional beds with the current level of care" he explained citing statistics.

Read more here:

UAE- Sharjah Health Care City 'will operate as free zone'