Aster DM Healthcare Plans Up to 2,500 Hires a Year as It Expands in the UAE

In an interview with Khaleej Times, Moopen said new hospitals alone should add 1,000 to 2,000 staff a year. A further 300 to 500 people will be hired for clinics and pharmacies. Each new hospital usually creates 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, most of them for doctors and nurses. Aster typically opens one or two hospitals a year, along with five to 10 clinics and 30 to 40 pharmacies.

The figures are a useful counterpoint to concerns that automation will reduce hiring in services. Moopen said the group keeps automating where it can but that healthcare "is still very high-touch and requires that human intervention". She said Aster's spending on AI and robotics, most of it in surgery, is not expected to affect headcount directly. Care, she said, will be delivered by people working alongside machines, and "we're still far away from a point where robots are leading care".

The newest project is Medcare Royal Hills Hospital, a 144-bed multi-specialty tertiary-care hospital. Engineering firm Menasco has been contracted to build it, and it is expected to open by 2029. The building is valued at Dh350 million, but Moopen put the total investment, including medical equipment, closer to Dh500 million. It will be Medcare's seventh hospital and Aster's 12th in the UAE, and will add radiation therapy, a service she said the group does not currently offer anywhere.

The hospital is part of a commitment to invest more than Dh1 billion in the UAE over five years. Moopen said Royal Hills and a 150-bed expansion of Aster Qusais Hospital together account for 60 to 65 per cent of that amount and will add almost 300 beds. She described the budget as flexible and said Aster's market share had grown this year "despite all the political unrest".

The group added 110 beds last month by acquiring IMH Hospital. A few months ago it bought a 100-bed facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which it plans to expand to 200 beds. Moopen said the expansion will be funded through a mix of equity and long-term debt.

Aster has not decided when to go public. "We are watching the market closely. We are preparing ourselves for the IPO," Moopen said. She added that timing will depend on macroeconomic conditions and the company's own readiness.