Hospitals in Dubai are seeking help from external agencies to bring more medical tourism business into the emirate as the strong dirham deters overseas patients.
Hospitals are linking up with medical tourism facilitators and international health agencies in a bid to drum up more business.
The number of British medical tourists fell by about 10 per cent at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital (AACSH), an effect of the weakened pound following the UK’s decision in June to leave the European Union. The pound has lost more than 16 per cent of its value against the US-dollar pegged dirham, making cosmetic medical procedures such as liposuction and body reconstruction more expensive in the UAE.
“We are in the process of finalising agreements with several facilitators that engage in referring specific reconstructive cases as well as cosmetic cases that are not traditionally covered by the UK’s [National Health Service] to the AACSH,” said Jeehan Abdul Qadir, the executive chairwoman of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital.
Hospitals and clinics under Aster DM Healthcare, which also reported fewer UK medical tourists, expect to fill the gap with visitors from African countries.
The group operated an IVF centre and four hospitals in the UAE at the end of last year.
“We are tying up with facilitators and we are also optimistic with our [plans for] African countries,” said Navin Pascal, the zonal head for Middle East and South Asia at AsterDM Healthcare Group.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia also provide patients for Dubai’s hospitals.
Despite a healthcare privatisation push in Saudi Arabia to stem the flow of nationals seeking health services in other countries, their numbers increased by nearly 5 per cent last year at AACSH.
Healthcare operators in Dubai expect the year to be challenging because of currency fluctuations. “Given the depreciation of many of the currencies of these large volume countries [in Africa and Asia] against the US dollar, there is reluctance among the governments and corporates to outsource health care and we anticipate a marginal growth,” Mr Pascal said.
Another challenge is the increasing competition among medical facilities in the UAE to tap into the medical tourism market.
“The UAE healthcare space is maturing as more hospitals open in the country, which in turn results in increased competition,” Mr Qadir said.
In 2015, Dubai recorded 630,000 medical tourists from outside the emirate, of which 47 per cent were from overseas and the rest from other emirates. By 2020, Dubai expects 500,000 patients from outside the country.
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