Our History

Holger Crafoord and Nils Alwall in front of the first Gambro kidney (Photo belongs to Lund University, Sweden).

Our Swedish heritage goes back to professor Nils Alwall (1904-1986), nephrology chair at Lund University, and one of the founding fathers of dialysis. Nils collaborated with Swedish businessman Holger Crafoord to found Gambro, Inc. Years later, in 1991, Gambro Healthcare International was established with the opening its first dialysis clinic in Sweden. In 2007, Gambro Healthcare International was renamed Diaverum.

Over the last three decades, Diaverum has become a global leader and the largest independent renal service provider in Europe.

1991

Gambro opens its first dialysis clinic in Sweden, Lund.

1991-2007: International expansion

Gambro healthcare clinics continued to expand to the rest of the world, and by the end of 2007, the company operated 170 clinics in 14 countries, treating more than 14,000 renal patients. With a new vision to help healthcare systems across the world provide universal access to world-class renal care and deliver life-enhancing renal care to patients globally, the name Diaverum was adopted and launched worldwide.

2007-2022: Leading innovative renal care provider

During the following years, Diaverum expanded substantially around the world. At the same time, the company launched an ambitious digital transformation, becoming a reference point in patient-centric innovations, benefitting patients with high-quality personalised care, while lowering the total cost of care for the payors.

2011

Diaverum enters Saudi Arabia in a joint venture with Nazer Group and initially establishes one greenfield clinic in Dammam. Diaverum enters Chile with the acquisition of four clinics. Diaverum enters Romania and adds nine clinics across the country.

2013

Diaverum Germany expands, adding four new clinics in Hamburg, one of them being one of the largest dialysis clinics in Europe.

2014

Diaverum wins 50% of outsourced dialysis services contract with Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia to care for more than 5,000 patients. Diaverum enters Russia by acquiring ten clinics of Unona, mainly located in the Sverdlovsk region.

2015

Diaverum enters the Asian market through its acquisition of Nefros Asia in Kazakhstan with nine kidney centres across the country.

2016

Diaverum acquires International Healthcare Systems (IHS) in Romania and adds 15 new clinics to the network.

2018

Diaverum opens state of the art transplant center d.INSTITUTE ITAC for complex transplants in Argentina. Diaverum enters Brazil and North Macedonia.

2019

Diaverum enters Albania, and enters Morocco through a partnership with Centre d’Hémodialyse de Marrakech, expanding Diaverum’s presence to 22 countries worldwide. Diaverum strengthens its presence in the Middle East with renewal of its five-year dialysis contract in Saudi Arabia. Diaverum serves more than 39,000 patients in more than 400 clinics across the globe excluding the US.