Libya – the new frontier?
But it soon becomes believable when you start talking to ordinary citizens like the taxi-driver whose father died in a private Tunisian hospital and whose aunt goes once a quarter to Tunis to monitor her kidneys.
The last few years has seen ruler Ghaddafi carry out a spectacular U-turn.
The country is now keen to form strong ties with the EU and is interested in involving the private sector in healthcare.
There is, in fact, already a nascent private sector with three small private hospitals, each with 80-100 beds and several clinics who bring in European specialists. Privatisation, functional privatisation and outsourcing are all on the cards.
Indeed, the Ministry of Health is carrying out a thorough-going review of private healthcare insurance in Western Europe and may even roll out plans to privatise social insurance on the Dutch model.
So why does the general public steer clear of the Libyan public sector?
The state only spends 3.5% of GDFP on public healthcare and so it is very stretched. The status of primary healthcare has been severely under-mined by measures giving hospital doctors more pay. This has led to an exodus from primary care which is mainly run by nurses. And the public sector hospitals are crowded with long queues. Seeing a specialist will involve repeat visits.
But the main problem is that Libyans, rather like Romanians, have simply lost faith in their own doctors. This is curious, insofar as Libyans are fiendishly well educated – many come to the UK to study medicine. But the general public’s view is that most hospital doctors are young, inexperienced generalists whose diagnosis may be erratic.
It is an interesting environment for private equity in more ways than one. But Libya is attracting large amounts of inward investment.
Who knows? Maybe healthcare is next?
I spent a week in Libya and am happy to talk in more detail to anyone who wants a face-to-face meeting in London.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.
