Innovation, expansion, IPO: SMC Healthcare’s Bassam Chahine charts its ambitious growth

As Saudi Arabia intensifies efforts to diversify its economy under Vision 2030, the healthcare sector emerges as a pivotal focus. SMC Healthcare, a prominent private provider in Riyadh with over 25 years of operational excellence, is poised to play a significant role in this transformation.

The company recently initiated plans for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi stock exchange, collaborating with banks such as EFG Hermes and SNB Capital to facilitate the process. This strategic move aims to bolster SMC’s expansion, including the development of three new hospitals in northern Riyadh, thereby more than doubling its current bed capacity.

In  this interview with Gulf Business, CEO Bassam Chahine discusses the company’s growth strategy, digital innovations, and its alignment with the kingdom’s evolving healthcare landscape.

SMC’s IPO marks a major milestone in your 25-year journey. What strategic goals are you looking to achieve through this listing, and how does it support your expansion into Northern Riyadh?

The IPO is a natural evolution of our 25-year legacy in Riyadh and marks a pivotal chapter in our growth journey. Since launching as a single-day surgery centre, we have transformed into one of the leading multi-specialty healthcare providers in the kingdom. This listing will allow us to accelerate our expansion plans, particularly in Northern Riyadh — one of the capital’s fastest-growing corridors.

Our three new hospitals are strategically locate in rapidly developing neighbourhoods tied to giga-projects such as New Murabba, NHC suburbs and North Pole.

Once operational, they will more than double our capacity to over 1,275 beds, significantly strengthening our footprint in Riyadh’s fastest-growing healthcare corridor.

The IPO will help us execute this roadmap efficiently, ensuring we are well positioned to meet future demand and remain at the forefront of healthcare delivery in the capital.

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With three new hospitals under development and the capacity set to more than double, how is SMC preparing to meet the operational demands and talent needs of this significant scale-up?

We are scaling with discipline. We have centralised key operational functions such as revenue cycle management, procurement, HR, and IT, which reduces overhead duplication as we grow. From an infrastructure perspective, we’ve invested early in systems and workflows that allow us to integrate new facilities seamlessly.

On the talent front, SMC Healthcare has a long-standing reputation for attracting world-class clinicians and specialists.

Our fixed salary model incentivises long-term commitment, and we complement this with robust professional development programmes. We are also investing in automation and AI tools to streamline clinical and administrative processes, which allows our staff to focus on patient care.

The company has posted impressive financial performance, with profit margins more than doubling in three years. What are the key levers driving this growth, and how do you plan to sustain it post-IPO?

Our margin expansion—from 5.3 per cent in 2021 to 12.9 per cent in 2024 — has been driven by three deliberate strategic levers.

First, we’ve shifted away from long-term care to higher-margin acute specialties like cardiology, orthopedics, and pediatrics. Second, we’ve doubled down on outpatient services, which are more scalable and structurally profitable. Third, our digital infrastructure — including our proprietary mobile app and AI-integrated systems, has improved operational efficiency across the board.

Post-IPO, we will continue this strategy by optimising our specialty mix, driving higher patient volumes through new outpatient clinics, and maintaining a lean, tech-enabled operating model. As our new hospitals are coming online, we expect to unlock further operating leverage.

SMC has embraced AI, digital tools, and telemedicine early. How central is digital transformation to your patient care model and competitive edge in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape?

Digital transformation is integral to our care model and a key differentiator for SMC. Our in-house developed mobile app has over 83,000 users and accounts for 62 per cent of bookings. It handles everything from registration, payments, online check in up to prescription access. This has halved patient waiting times and improved patient throughput.

We are also among the first in the kingdom to integrate AI into diagnostics and lab result interpretation. This enhances diagnostic accuracy, speeds up clinical workflows, and supports personalised care delivery.

Our tech-first approach not only boosts operational efficiency but ensures that we continue to lead in patient experience, which is increasingly central to competitive healthcare.

With the kingdom’s Vision 2030 pushing public-private healthcare partnerships, how do you see SMC’s role evolving in this new ecosystem — and what opportunities do you see beyond Riyadh?

Vision 2030 is unlocking significant opportunities for private healthcare providers. We’re already a frontrunner — SMC Healthcare was selected as the preferred bidder to operate the kingdom’s first mental health facility under a PPP model in partnership with Dr Ebel Kliniken, and HealthGate.

This underscores our capability and credibility as a strategic partner to the government.

Our immediate focus remains Riyadh, where demand continues to surge. Northern Riyadh alone will need thousands of new hospital beds by 2035. We’re addressing this head-on by becoming the largest private operator in that region.

That said, the PPP framework opens new doors across the kingdom — and when the time is right, we will evaluate opportunities in other high-growth cities with the same disciplined, data-driven approach that has defined our growth so far.