UAE expects more growth in health tourism as it registers $8.3 billion in annual revenue

With the tallest building in the world, luxurious five-star malls and moderate climate in winter, the UAE is increasingly attracting patients from abroad who covet a tourist treatment in the same time.

Health tourism revenues are around $8.3 billion annually and are expected to increase, Iyad Abdulrahman, the executive manager for media relations and business development in department of tourism and commerce marketing in Dubai, told the Arabic-language al-Rroya newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

Mr. Abdulrahman said that UAE’s infrastructure, high number of specialist physicians, splendid beaches, and moderate climate in winter are all reasons to be positive for healthy growth in health tourism.

The healthcare sector’s sustainability and relative immunity from the 2009 turbulent financial crisis that rocked the world have also made it also attractive for investors.

Dubai Healthcare City which, includes 90 medical centers, and more than 2,000 specialists, received more than 400,000 patients in 2010, compared to 220,000 in 2009.

An important reason for health tourism growth in the country is that the UAE’s hospitals offer competitive prices.

“We found out that the costs for treatment in the UAE is around half if we compare it to the United States; this has helped us to attract more patients from America,” Haidar al-Zubaidi, head of al-Kindi hospital in Dubai, told al-Rroya.

He said that his hospital receives 4,500 to 5,000 patients each month from abroad and has entered its fifth year giving such treatment. Mr. al-Zubaidi said that his hospital started with patients from the GCC region receiving only general diagnosis only, but now his hospital has expanded its facilities.

While the UAE’s healthcare projects under construction have surpassed $ 3.6 billion a year, it is not only the Middle Eastern country that is expected to see high growth in healthcare.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a whole is expected to experience growth in investment in the sector.
The six countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council are currently spending around $16 to $18 billion over health care, and the figure is expected to increase to reach $20 billion in 2018.

The reasons for the expected health care investment in the region are: demographic growth, high and expanding medical needs, more active investments by governments and private sector in the healthcare market, development of social welfare systems, introduction of private insurance market, increased healthcare regulation, introduction of compulsory health insurance in a number of countries; to name a few, according to TVM Capital MENA, a provider of equity capital to the life sciences and healthcare industries in the Middle East and North Africa.

(Dina Al-Shibeeb, an editor at Al Arabiya English, can be reached at: [email protected])