Dallah Healthcare Company has appointed Muteab Altukeas as Chief Executive Officer, effective September 30, following his tenure as acting CEO, the Saudi health services provider announced on September 30. Altukeas, who held the position on a temporary basis since September 1 after the resignation of Ahmed Babaeer, assumes the permanent role without a search firm involvement in what constitutes an internal promotion of a longtime executive.
The board's decision to make Altukeas' appointment permanent comes after Babaeer stepped down from the chief executive position on personal grounds, ending an 18-year tenure during which he led the company through its transformation from a private operator into a publicly listed Saudi healthcare network. Altukeas, who holds the title of engineer based on his civil engineering credentials, ascended to the permanent position having served in increasingly senior roles at the organization since 2017. The board and company extended gratitude to Babaeer for his contributions, noting his significance to Dallah's development and operational excellence.
Altukeas brings more than 15 years of professional experience in strategy, project management, and mergers and acquisitions. He holds a master's degree in project management from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom and a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from King Saud University, the company's home nation institution. He has completed executive programs in mergers and acquisitions at Harvard University and finance and executive programs at London Business School. At Dallah Health, Altukeas served as Chief Strategy Officer beginning in 2022, and prior to that held the position of General Manager of the Strategy and Project Management Office from 2017 through 2022, giving him established knowledge of the organization's operations and strategic direction.
Dallah Healthcare Company, founded in 1987 and listed on the Saudi Exchange since 2012, operates as one of the largest private healthcare networks in the Middle East. The company manages a network encompassing hospitals, specialized clinics, pharmaceutical operations, and telemedicine services, serving approximately 4 million patient visits annually according to industry recognition. The company reported first-half 2026 revenues of 2.121 billion Saudi riyals, representing 12 percent year-over-year growth, though net profit declined to 184.5 million riyals from 279.8 million in the comparable period of 2025. Recent expansion included acquisitions of hospitals in Khobar and Al-Ahsa during 2024, with the newly acquired assets generating revenue growth exceeding 112 percent in the first half of 2026.
The promotion of Altukeas to permanent CEO suggests the board's confidence in his ability to manage the company's aggressive expansion strategy and operational integration challenges. With recent acquisitions adding complexity to the organization's financial performance and revenue integration efforts remaining incomplete, Altukeas' background in project management and M&A experience may prove instrumental in executing the company's stated growth plans. The appointment of an internal candidate preserves continuity during a transition period when Dallah faces margin pressures from consolidating newly acquired operations, though his ability to reverse declining profitability despite revenue growth will likely determine whether the board's decision to promote him permanently proves justified.
