One month after the St James Group embarked on its first overseas venture, investing close to Lm1 million in an outpatient and day case clinic in Tripoli, Libya, this North African operation is treating some 30 patients a day.
Dr Josie Muscat, chairman of the St James Group, told The Sunday Times last week that the idea was first mooted by one of the St James senior nurses, who was running the eye clinic in Sliema three years ago.
St James, he recalled, was then becoming quite busy, performing specialised ophthalmic procedures. "We were receiving a slow but steady flow of Libyan patients seeking our services there," Dr Muscat said.
"We therefore decided to explore this potential market further and, after joining forces with a local representative in Libya, who has a sound operating background of the North African market, the venture kicked off."
The new clinic consists of a five-storey building with each floor offering a specialised service. It incorporates a state-of-the-art laboratory, offering several sophisticated tests, some of which are not even performed in Malta to date.
The eye clinic offers sutureless (no stitches) cataract surgery and laser treatments. The dental unit is run by the Dental and Implantology Unit in Malta and there are also a diagnostic cardiac unit, an X-ray clinic and a dispensing pharmacy.
Outpatient clinics in all specialties are offered by Maltese and Libyan doctors, with a full-time Maltese GP practising there.
The cosmetic dermatology clinic was "extremely well received". This offers specialised treatments, such as botox injections, lip augmentation, dermal fillers, laser hair removal and other cosmetic services.
Apart from the GP, 20 permanent staff are employed, including five other Maltese. A number of part-time doctors regularly travel to Libya to provide medical services.
Dr Muscat said the cosmetic clinic, which was the first to open, and the laboratory provide the services that have been most popular so far. "We expect the number of patients to multiply significantly, especially once Maltese specialists start attending on a regular basis," Dr Muscat added.
The Libya project will not stop there. The next step is to expand into a 100-bed hospital similar to St James Hospital in Sliema. "We have always striven to offer the best private medical services and our long-standing customer commitment is to deliver individual patient attention and quality medical treatment," Dr Muscat said.
"Recently we have also invested in a new, fully-fledged cardiac care unit offering services which range from simple stress tests up to open heart surgeries - the latter are already being carried out."