Dubai spent millions on Emiratis’ treatment abroad

The Dubai government is spending millions of dirhams on Emiratis seeking medical treatment in countries such as Thailand and the UK, mainly for chronic diseases that require specialised care.

An average of Dh1.7 million was spent on each patient in 2013, according to the Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) statistical booklet.

Millions of dirhams are separately being spent by other health authorities such as the Ministry of Health, Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (Haad) and the military, though exact figures were not available.

Of those travelling from Dubai, one in five patients sought cancer-related (oncology) treatment in 2013. A total of 2,010 Emiratis were sent abroad for treatment in 2012 and 2013 each, while the total expenditure of overseas treatment was calculated at Dh346 million.

However, the average spending on patients differed from country to country. For example, the average cost per patient to the UK was Dh320,000, to Germany Dh293,000 and the US Dh350,000.

Interestingly, in 2012, the number of people escorting patients was higher than the patients themselves — 2,445 and 2,010 respectively.

Thailand, Germany, the UK, the US and India were listed as the top five countries that patients travelled to for treatment, as per the DHA’s Dubai Annual Health Statistical Report.

Thailand was the most sought after country in overseas treatments by attracting the highest proportion of patients (35.2 per cent), followed by Germany (27.2 per cent), and the UK (14.4 per cent).

Onclogy was the most sought after medical treatments abroad and was sought by more than one in five of the total overseas patients (20.4 per cent). This was followed by Neurosurgeries, Orthopaedic, and Cardio Surgeries at 15.5 per cent, 13 per cent and 8.9 per cent of cases treated overseas, respectively.

In 2013, 165 patients travelled to Thailand for oncology-related treatment along with 186 escorts, while 85 went to Germany with 106 escorts. However, only 18 went to India for nephrology-related diseases and 17 for oncology.

Dubai’s medical tourism

While select Emirati patients are sent abroad by the health authorities in the country, Dubai’s Medical Tourism Programme, that has been rolled out recently, hopes to attract 500,000 medical tourists by 2020 from countries such as Russia, CIS Countries, GCC countries, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Angola and the UK.

Currently, Dubai is focusing on offering wellness treatment rather than specialised care. A year-long study showed that Dubai already has the facilities to attract medical tourists for seven specialties including orthopaedic and sports medicine, plastic surgery, opthalmology, dental procedures, dermatology, preventive health check-ups and wellness and skincare.

“We cannot stop people from travelling (abroad) for treatment but we are trying to create a model that will work and see expats coming to Dubai for treatment,” Essa Al Maidoor, Director-General of the DHA, had said earlier this year. “Dubai will create the environment.

“The number of health facilities in Dubai is around 2,518 and more than 70 per cent of our hospitals are internationally accredited ... Health professionals here speak more than 40 languages. All these factors will help drive the medical tourism initiative.”

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE