Medical visa to be made easier… Dubai medical tourists stats

In an effort to bolster medical tourism in the UAE, visa procedures for patients seeking treatment will be made easier.

“The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs has pledged to facilitate and make medical tourism visa procedures smoother to support and elevate medical tourism in Dubai,” said Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, Director of Health Regulation and Dubai Medical Tourism Project.

A total of 1.3 million medical tourists are expected to visit Dubai in 2021, Dubai Health Authority (DHA) revealed.

In 2015, 630,831 medical tourists visited Dubai’s 26 hospitals, out of which 332,472 came from within the UAE and 298,359 (46 per cent) came from abroad.

A total of Dh1,004,930,535 in revenues was made from medical tourists abroad in 2015. This number is expected to increase by 13 per cent for the next five years.

This means that by 2021 a 1,313,360 medical tourists are expected to visit Dubai out of which 692,191 are internal and 621,169 will come from abroad.

A report by the Dubai statistic center revealed that the majority of the tourists who visited Dubai for medical treatment in 2015 came from Asian countries (43 per cent), 29 per cent came from the GCC, 15 per cent came from European countries, seven per cent came from African countries and five per cent came from America.  

Most of the tourists sought out treatment in Dubai for osteoporosis, fertility, dermatology and plastic surgery.

The Dubai Health Experience (DXH) group was formed with 25 members— consisting of medical facilities in Dubai and other partners offering logistic services— who will provide their services to medical tourists.

Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director-General of DHA commended Emirates Airlines, the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Statistic Center and General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs for their support. DXH also collaborated with Dubai Statistic Center in compiling medical tourism statistics from Dubai’s 26 hospitals.
 

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