UAE: Dubai Reports Record Medical Tourists But Only 40% Are From Outside UAE

Dubai reports record medical tourist numbers but only 40% are from outside the UAE and high expatriate numbers cause confusion.

Dubai is on track to achieve its target of attracting half a million medical tourists this year, five years ahead of schedule, but only 40% of these are from outside the UAE, and there is still major confusion between international patients and medical tourists.

According to figures provided by the main 16 medical tourism hospitals, in the first six months of 2015, Dubai attracted 256,097 medical tourists from within and outside the United Arab Emirates. Layla Al Marzouqi at Dubai Health Authority (DHA) suggests that numbers will rise; “We expect that number to double when we collect data from across all the 30 hospitals and other facilities at the end of the year. “Only 30 hospitals are licensed for medical tourism."

For the 16 hospitals alone, 33% of patients were Asian, 27% European, 23% from within the UAE and other Arab/Gulf countries, and 17% from Africa. Historically, hospitals have only recorded patents as either Dubai citizens or international patients, and not split the latter category into expatriates living in Dubai, expatriates living elsewhere in the UAE, and genuine medical tourists. Europe. Pakistani and Indian expatriates make up more than 37 % of the total population of three emirates Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, according to 2014 statistics from Euromonitor. The five most populous nationalities in the three emirates are Indian (25 %), Pakistani (12 %), Emirati (9%), Bangladeshi (7%), and Filipino (5%). This would explain why there are high Asian numbers in the Dubai figures.

Only 40% of medical tourists are actually from abroad; 60% are from within the UAE according to Linda Abdullah Ali, the DHA head of medical tourism. She adds "Dubai aims to grow the number of medical tourists by around 12 % annually to reach more than 500,000 and generate Dh2.6 billion in revenue by 2020."

The majority of clinics and small hospitals in Dubai only deal with locals which is where figures can get confusing when talking of international patients as Dubai has 1.2 million expatriates within a population of only 4.8 million. Across the UAE 84% of the working population is expatriate; some professionals but mostly low paid domestic and manual workers. In the figures for the 16 hospitals it is not clear if they refer to where the person was based or their nationality. If it is the latter then the actual figures of true medical tourists could be hugely overstated. Historically, hospitals have only recorded patents as either Dubai citizens or international patients, and not split the latter category into expatriates living in Dubai, expatriates living elsewhere in the UAE, and genuine medical tourists.

Many expatriates working in Dubai are from Asia and Europe. So until the DHA can remove the vagueness of whether their figures are international patients including expatriates working within the UAE, or true medical tourists who only go to Dubai for treatment, and ensure that the hospitals have a uniform recording system to differentiate between the two categories-the quoted figures must be treated with caution.

Of Dubai’s 2,900 medical facilities hospitals, clinics and day-care surgery centres, 26 hospitals are private and four are state-run. At least 10 private hospitals are expected to open in the next two years.

Countries in the Arabian Gulf, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Africa are the main source markets for Dubai’s medical tourism industry as prices are relatively high compared to Asian competitors mean it has been unable to attract any real interest from the UK, USA or Western Europe. Cosmetic surgery and wellness treatments are the most popular services, orthopaedic surgeries are the top revenue generators. Infertility treatment and bariatric surgery are also popular.

The success comes at a huge cost to the government and the private sector. The huge amount of time and money spent is because it has to succeed, as it is part of the diversification strategy to increase the non-oil sector. With oil prices still falling and likely to stay low for several years, many Gulf economies will struggle if they cannot successfully diversify.

Some hospitals are designed like hotels with valet parking, VIP rooms, gourmet food and beverage cafes and restaurants. Hospitals are placing emphasis on hospitality and partnerships with leading international health care institutions has proved to be a value added factor. Beyond the infrastructure, the focus is on operational efficiency using state of the art IT systems and high customer care.

Dubai’s Tourism Vision for 2020 aims to welcome 20 million tourists per year by 2020. There were 13.2 million international overnight visitors in 2014 alone, and 2015 numbers should reach 14 million.