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- Dubai 05:07 06:20 12:29 15:54 18:33 19:47
UAE-based Zulekha Hospitals, which operates hospitals and medical centres in Dubai and Sharjah, has increased consultancy fees recently, with a senior official blaming rising expenses and staff salaries for the hike.
Speaking to Emirates 24l7, Zanubia Shams, CEO of Zulekha Hospitals, said the decision had been taken as costs such as rentals and salaries of the staff are on the rise.
“Everybody’s costs are increasing. Rents are going up and other expenses are also rising. For us, one of the direct increases is the salaries of doctors, nurses and technical staff. So we have to make sure of certain minimal return on investment that we are getting and keeping that in mind, we have had to increase prices,” Zanubia said.
She maintained that the increase was in both Dubai and Sharjah facilities and different for each specialty.
A Zulekha Call Centre official confirmed to Emirates 24l7 that the consultancy fee has been hiked for the hospitals.
Earlier, Zulekha Hospital in Dubai used to charge Dh180 consultancy fee for general physician and Dh250 for specialist, which has been increased to between Dh250 and Dh330 now.
Currently, Zulekha Hospital in Sharjah charges Dh250 consultancy fee for seeing a general physician and Dh300 for specialists as the fee has been increased by about Dh50.
Zanubia spoke to Emirates 24|7 at the sidelines of its launch of a UAE-wide awareness initiative for cervical cancer.
The initiative aims to educate women about the symptoms, risks and prevention of the second most common cancer affecting a record number of women worldwide and help save lives across the Emirates.
The initiative has been developed by Zulekha Hospital with the active support of the Friends of Cancer Patients support group in the UAE and targets women between the age group of 35-55 years. While this is the high-risk group, cervical cancer can affect anyone over 25 years.
Business Monitor International (BMI) said last month that the UAE healthcare industry is getting fatter year-on-year with residents annual spending expected to jump 10 per cent to Dh66 billion ($18 billion) this year. Residents spent Dh60 billion on healthcare last year.
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