Financing issues and fall in number of visitors affect medical businesses

Though the healthcare business in the UAE has felt the impact of the recession and plans to become the medical tourism destination have suffered a setback, major players feel that the worst is over.

Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman, Dr Moopen's Group, told Emirates Business: "Globally, and in the UAE, economic downturn has not had a big impact on the healthcare business. We are on track in terms of number of patients and business in our hospitals and clinics that cater to professionals and the well-to-do part of the population. But in areas where majority of population fall under lower income category, such as Al Aweer and Al Quoz, we have felt the impact.

"And as the number of people coming to Dubai has fallen, a number of projects in areas such as New Dubai have either slowed down or have been put on hold."

Raza Siddiqui, Executive Director, ETA Star Healthcare, said: "By and large the healthcare business is recession proof, in the sense that whether the times are good or bad and whether you are rich or poor you will always need medical attention. However, there was a slight impact of the recession on the healthcare business in February and March. The numbers did go down but now things are fine and we are witnessing normal volumes of patients in our hospitals.

"The healthcare business has been hit by the fact that new projects have been put on hold by banks. I feel banks do not have the right kind of understanding of healthcare and have stopped funding construction of projects."

Dr Mohanakrishnan, Director, Planning, Eurohealth Systems, said: "The plan to become the healthcare tourism destination of the region has been affected by recession. Many of the projects in Dubai Healthcare City and in other places are on hold. However, this is just a temporary thing and it will pass. Things will start moving again once the situation eases."

Dr Moopen said: "Some speciality hospitals were supposed to come on stream by the end of this year or early next year but these have been deferred. Many of the projects that would have provided advanced tertiary and cardiac care have been delayed or put on hold and this will impact the inflow of patients coming in for advanced treatment."

Dr Mohanakrishnan said: "The UAE needs to do a few things before it can fulfil its ambitions to becoming a medical tourism destination. They need to develop the infrastructure, they need to bring in more in-house experts in major procedures and they have to be more cost effective. The good thing is that the government is moving in the right direction and is trying to develop the infrastructure and is including the private sector in its efforts to bring in more facilities."

Dr Moopen said: "The Dubai Healthcare City has been set up with this purpose of bringing in advance and specialised healthcare such as transplants, cancer treatment, tertiary care, which is not easily available in the Middle East. But it is only a matter of time and things will look up. It will take a couple of years but the blueprint is there, only the plans have been slightly deferred."

Dr Mohanakrishnan said: "The UAE has a lot of potential to become the medical tourism hub, especially where cosmetic surgery and infertility treatments are concerned. And the good news is that people from the United States, the United Kingdom and Middle East and North Africa (Mena) are already travelling to the UAE for these procedure."

Siddiqui said: "This is because a lot of people want to get such things done in private without the knowledge of their family and friends. So it makes a lot of sense to come to a place such as Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, which is fast becoming a tourism hotspot and get the treatments done in privacy.

"People from the developed countries come here because of the advantage in pricing that the region offers. Compared to what they spend back home they spend little here, plus they enjoy a vacation as well and then go back without anyone being the wiser for it."

Dr Mohanakrishnan said: "Right now, Dubai and Sharjah are the preferred destinations for infertility treatments, but because infertility treatments by private doctors are allowed in Sharjah, they get the chunk of the infertility treatment seekers. But if they want to bring in people for major procedures such as cardiac surgery, liver transplant, renal transplant then they will have to bring in experts for these procedures."

Going into some of the reasons why such complicated procedures are not done in the UAE right now Dr Moopen said: "While most of the major treatments are available in the UAE, the hindrance for more specialised surgeries is the small size of the population. As compared to countries such as India, the US and Europe, the UAE population is small and it is a young population with the majority being in the age group of 25 to 55. These people generally don't need such high medical attention, it is usually the children and older people who need frequent treatments. So the number of patients per thousand being less is a drawback.

"However, there is a way around this. Visiting consultants can be brought in to see people for two or three days in a month so that they can perform the specialised surgeries here. A lot of hospitals are already doing this. We also bring in surgeons from outside each month to our hospitals so that our patients don't have to go abroad to get world-class treatment. They get it right here in the UAE.

"Also to utilise the surgeons' skills to the optimum, increasing the number of people visiting them by bringing them from outside the UAE is also a good option. We have to look at the GCC and the Middle East as a market and offer them the services here so that they don't go elsewhere and specialists have enough numbers to keep their skills sharp."

The doctors said that medical insurance will also play a major role in solving these issues but it has to be a comprehensive one and not just a minimum cover so that people can afford to pay for major procedures. But they think that the government's initiatives to make medical insurance mandatory for all UAE residents is a step in the right direction.

They also said that it is just a matter of time before the plans for becoming the healthcare destination of the region will be back on track.

Dr Moopen said: "Even though the UAE is a young country, one major thing that will revolutionise healthcare here is the Dubai Healthcare City. Once it is completed it will cater to nearly one billion people in Mena.

"The facilities that are being planned are in association with major players in Western countries such as Mayo Clinic, etc. So rest assured that one will get the latest treatment in state-of-the-art hospitals."

Siddiqui said: "After the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, people from Mena are no longer keen on going to the West for treatment. So that will work to our advantage and a lot of people will come here. Also with the health insurance facilities now available in the UAE patient outflow will also be halted."

Dr Moopen said: "We will carve our niché in the medical tourism business. There is no doubt about that. We will come somewhere in the middle. We might never be as cheap as India and might not be able to attract people from the US, UK for major procedures, but our major playing field will be the rest of the Middle East and the North African. Because it will be so close home for the people from the Middle East we will be the first choice of people from Mena.

"With more people saying 'I'll pick the procedure and then I'll pick the destination', this is not a distant dream."

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