Saudi Arabia’s first organized healthcare system was established in the year 1926 under which two hospitals were opened, Ajyad hospital in Makkah and Bab Shareef hospital in Jeddah. Prior to this the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia was completely unorganized.
The real expansion of the overall healthcare sector of the country, however, only occurred over 1980-1990 during which a large number of hospitals and primary health centers were established all around the kingdom. Despite the advancements made by the MOH, supply of healthcare facilities struggled to keep struggled to match the pace of the escalating population. Therefore, to meet the shortfall the government started taking initiatives to encourage the involvement of private players in this potentially lucrative sector.
Over the last few years the government of Saudi Arabia has directed its efforts towards improving the overall healthcare of the country due to which the overall Healthcare Market has grown considerably. Healthcare market revenues have augmented at a noteworthy CAGR of 10.0% during 2009-2014. This growth in the market revenues has been perceived on account of consistent excellent performance of pharmacy retail Sector. This enhancement in the market was also assisted by significant growth of the country’s medical devices market and polyclinic Market.
The Saudi Arabia Healthcare Market has been segmented on the basis of different sectors namely polyclinic market, hospital market, pharmacy market and medical devices market. It has been found that the Polyclinic market contributed major proportion of the revenue generated from 2009-2014. It mainly includes MOH Polyclinics and Private Polyclinics during 2009-2014. Market on the other hand, has been considered as the second largest sector in the overall Healthcare Market.
It mainly includes MOH hospitals and Private hospitals. Pharmacy Retail Market has been considered as the third largest sector in the overall Healthcare Market, It mainly includes Hospital Based Pharmacies, Pharmacies in Polyclinics and Chain based Pharmacies.
According to the Research Analyst, Ken Research Saudi Arabia pharmacy retail market has been segmented on the basis of major cities that account for majority of Pharmacies. Riyadh has been the most dominant region in the Saudi Arabia pharmacy retail market during 2014. The reason behind this domination is that Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia with the largest share of working class population and comprised of most number of hospitals and polyclinics in the country during 2014. Jeddah has been the second major city of pharmacies across Saudi Arabia during 2014. The reason behind this is that Jeddah is considered as the commercial hub of Saudi Arabia and is the second largest city in the country with a population base only second to Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia pharmacy retail market can be segmented on the basis of patented, private label goods (OTC products) and generic drugs. Patented drugs dominated the Saudi Arabia pharmacy retail market during 2014. The private label goods segment is second largest category of the overall pharmacy revenues during 2014. This has been due to the growing consumer income, stronger advertising support and tendency of customers to purchase additional consumer skin care and hair care products along with medicine over the counter.
Generic drugs have been the smallest segment in pharmacy retail sector of Saudi Arabia, according to the Research Analyst, Ken Research
