Feb
21
Health Tourism in UAE Keeps Up
By Marius | Published February 21, 2012
Fresh media reports out of the UAE this week indicate that the region’s burgeoning medical tourism market may be curtailed by ongoing healthcare capacity problems, regulatory issues and other market forces.
The United Arab Emirates is the largest medical tourism market in the Middle East, drawing an estimated 4.3 million people to the country each year for healthcare and wellness services. An article in Dubai-based English language journal, the National, this week asserts that while the private healthcare sector has done a good job in promoting the UAE as an attractive international medical tourism hub so far, the market’s existing medical infrastructure may not be ready to handle a further influx of tourists.
According to the latest industry figures, the usage rate of private sector medical facilities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai by foreign patients has soared in the past three years. Dubai Healthcare City, the region’s largest medical centre, noted that 15 percent of their 502,000 total patients last year were foreign medical tourists, up from 10 percent of 412,000 patients in 2010, and the estimated 5 percent of 231,000 patients in 2009. The City Hospital in Dubai meanwhile told the National that they receive between 10 and 15 medical tourists every month, up from the five a month using their facilities in 2009. The Al Noor Hospital in Abu Dhabi also noted that around 15 percent of its patients came from abroad last year.
When compared to other medical tourism centres in Southeast Asia or Latin America, more patients come and use the UAE’s private medical facilities from neighbouring countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These clients choose to visit the UAE for surgical procedures, such as cardiac or orthopedic treatment, that are not yet available in their home countries. Western-based patients meanwhile, a considerably smaller share of the client base, often seek more elective medical procedures while they are already on their holiday in the UAE. As treatment costs in the UAE are not considerably lower than those in the West, local healthcare firms must focus on quality service, hi-end technology and patient privacy and discretion to remain competitive, a considerable challenge.
While the UAE medical tourism sector has been able to deliver ample progress so far, the Emirates’ current regulatory framework and infrastructure capacity will need revising if the region wants to continue growing and truly compete for more high-value clients on the world stage. Industry analysts have cited a lack of cooperation between state and private sector players as a key impediment to further developing the UAE medical tourism sector. Without a more integrated national approach, the UAE will be unable to either effectively market its prime medical assets abroad or improve upon the number of qualified healthcare professionals working in the system at present.
A lack of specific legislation specifically governing international doctors’ and patient’s rights in the UAE medical tourism sector has often been cited by local healthcare professions as a key area that needs improving. As it stands there are no rules concerning complications, side effects and other liabilities after treatment for overseas patients in the UAE. In countries with more vibrant medical tourism sectors, like Germany and Thailand, there are embedded legal contracts between foreign patients and domestic hospitals that are monitored diligently by independent health authorities. Laws should be introduced that not only cover potential health complications, but also require that local hospitals perform follow-up care on their patients after they return to their home countries, the National argued. Without these necessary protections, the reputation of medical institutions in the UAE and indeed the entire market are at risk of adverse patient health developments.
The premier UAE health bodies, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Dubai Health Authority (DHA), have both acknowledged in the past that a lack of specific medical tourism legislation may have hindered local industry development. Going forward, UAE authorities have shown an increased interest in heeding local healthcare professionals’ recommendations and will work to lift the UAE medical tourism sector to better international standards. Going forward, the MOH is already looking to set up a special medical visit visa program similar to what is available in the United States and the United Kingdom, which will monitor and protect foreign patients while receiving treatment in the Emirates. Furthermore, the DHA have outlined plans for a set of industry guidelines that would direct the medical tourism market. When they come into effect, these new rules would work to rank facilities by health costs while also providing minimum service standards and additional customer protection.
While updating the local market’s regulatory policy will certainly be welcome, the UAE medical tourism sector must also address several other obstacles to greater international competition, namely a lack of unique specialized healthcare services and significantly lower pricing. The UAE’s youth-leaning and expatriate-dominated population, often cited as a positive in the regions overall economic forecast, works against the private medical tourism industry in particular, according to the National. Because most of the UAE’s sizeable expatriate populace is expected to return to their home country when they retire, the demand for highly specialized medical treatment facilities, which is normally tied to aging populations, remains very low by global standards. Thus, without sufficient business volume in their home market, the UAE private healthcare sector has found it difficult to develop and sustain highly specialized medical services so far. According to the 2011 Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, the UAE is currently spending more than $2 billion each year by sending out local patients to foreign countries for advanced medical treatment. Over 130,000 people from the UAE visited foreign countries for medical treatment last year, including 4,500 where the expenses were covered by the government.
While demand is an issue for high end treatment in the UAE, access remains a problem for other more generalized medical treatment. According to government figures, private and public hospitals are operating at near 80 percent capacity at all times in Dubai. Adequate staffing also remains an issue. The UAE averages about 19 physicians per 10,000 residents, which is low compared to 33 per in the US and 38 in Germany. An upcoming national health insurance mandate could further exacerbate this issue, as more Emirati patients flood the nation’s healthcare services.
On the issue of becoming more cost-effective, the UAE also has much to catch up on, particularly from rival markets in Asia. The average cost of heart bypass surgery in the UAE for example amounts to US$44,000, while the same treatment costs just US$18,500 in Singapore, US$11,000 in Thailand, US$10,000 in India and US$9,000 in Malaysia. Several factors contribute to these cheaper medical expenses, namely the lower cost of living, staff salaries and the greater availability of qualified healthcare professionals. If the UAE can work to address these issues and become more competitive they will surely attract more prospective medical tourists to their country.
Organization Mentioned
Dubai Health Authority
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is a government organization tasked with overseeing the healthcare sector of the Emirate of Dubai. The DHA was created in 2007 under the directive of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai. Medical care services throughout Dubai can be provided through DHA medical facilities including hospitals (Al Wasl, Dubai and Rashid), specialty centers (The Joslin Diabetes Center) and numerous primary health centers.
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[...] According to DHA Director-General Qadi Saeed Al Murooshid, an Emirate-wide digital claims mandate could prove to be a significant milestone for local commerce and industry as well, as transaction data collected online will be shared with the private sector to facilitate future capacity planning and investments in Dubai-based healthcare and insurance business. “This has several advantages, it gives us an edge to run a successful health insurance system, it ensures minimum fraud and abuse by provides and also gives us the ability to plan clinical capacity for Dubai based on actual customer behavior patterns and data,” Al Murooshid said in a press release, adding that the electronic claims database further demonstrated the government’s commitment to improve healthcare spending and attracting international investment “because investors will have a clear data about the areas of high demand in the health sector in Dubai.” The DHA wants the number and quality of private hospitals and clinics in Dubai to expand further and lift the burden off the public treasury. This will be necessary to not only maintain a sustainable national healthcare system but also to give impetus towards growing the local medical tourism industry. [...]