Dubai Ramps Up Medical Tourism Effort

Posted on Apr 11, 2012 by Sergio Ulloa (G+)

The Emirate of Dubai is reaffirming their commitment to medical tourism by increasing cooperation between public and private healthcare operators through a new national development initiative. Last week, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, called a meeting with top officials from various government and private sector bodies to discuss the Dubai Health Authority's (DHA) new initiative on medical tourism and what could be done to fast-track development and promotion efforts going forward. The Dubai government wants to establish the city as both a regional and global hub for medical tourism in order to further diversify the local economy away from natural resource extraction. If successful, new healthcare facilities targeting foreign patients could also work to lift local health standards and create more investment and job opportunities at home. The crown prince made it clear at the meeting that Dubai's healthcare sector needed a unified approach going forward to overcome previous inter-departmental squabbling and muddled promotional efforts, which have resulted in many citizens leaving the emirate and heading overseas for medical treatment. A lack of cooperation between state and private sector players has been cited by industry analysts as a key impediment to further developing the Dubai medical tourism sector in the past. Read the rest of the Dubai Ramps Up Medical Tourism Effort and Health Insurance article