Medsi has registered two of its brands in the UAE, Serbia, Georgia and a number of CIS countries

Following the Moscow chain of private clinics Chaika, which plans to open its facilities abroad with the involvement of partners, Medsi Group, which is part of AFK Sistema, also intends to implement such projects. The company has already registered its brands in the UAE, Serbia, Georgia and a number of CIS countries. Private clinics are trying to enter those markets where most of their solvent clients left last year. However, it is often difficult for participants in the Russian medical industry to adapt in the same post-Soviet countries, experts warn.

Medsi Group registered two brands in the field of medical services at once – Medsi International Healthcare and Medsi Medicine of Competence for the markets of the UAE, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and a number of other CIS countries. Kommersant found this information in the WIPO database – the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Trademarks are registered to Innotek LLC. They told Kommersant that they were Medsi’s patent attorney. Alla Kanunnikova, Commercial and Marketing Director of Medsi Group, confirmed the company’s plans to enter the markets of other countries.

Maria Aronikova, head of the trademark practice, partner at Semenov & Pevzner, notes that Medsi, when registering brands abroad, used the Protocol of the Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Trademarks. This implies the protection of the brand in all countries that have signed the protocol, based on the decisions of the patent offices of these states. Usually, in this case, the right holder must use the brands within three years after registration (in some cases up to five years) in order not to lose them, Ms. Aronikova explains.

The Moscow chain of private clinics Chaika also announced its entry into the markets of Dubai, Armenia and Georgia with the involvement of local partners (see Kommersant of August 31). Objects in the UAE, Serbia and the post-Soviet countries Medsi can launch under a franchise, Nikolay Bespalov, development director of RNC Pharma, does not exclude. Medical clinics are trying to enter the markets of those countries where there is effective demand from the Russians, the expert states.

For example, in Dubai, Russians can undergo diagnostics and treatment at international clinics, but sometimes they are deterred by insufficient knowledge of English, which does not allow them to resolve medical issues, Mr. Bespalov notes. Therefore, according to him, relocators from Russia living in the UAE prefer to visit Russian-speaking doctors, which makes this market attractive for Russian clinic chains.

Nikolai Bespalov explains the desire of Russian medical industry participants to enter the markets of post-Soviet countries also by the fact that solvent Russians move there after partial mobilization announced last fall. “They are accustomed at home to a certain level of service in private clinics, which is not yet so high in the post-Soviet countries,” the expert notes. According to him, the formed demand for such services with a limited volume of supply attracts Russian networks to these markets.

In the case of the UAE, where there are such international operators as Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, the local market, on the contrary, is highly competitive. In some CIS countries, it is more difficult for representatives of the medical business to adapt due to differences in industry legislation, Nikolai Bespalov believes. Another problem is the lack of qualified personnel in a number of post-Soviet republics, the expert adds. Mr. Bespalov connects possible difficulties in the work of Medsi and other clinics abroad with further risks of restrictions for relocators to work remotely in Russia and make payments.

Ekaterina Rakitina