FOCUS: Dubai’s Health Projects May Help Cure Econ Sickness
Reported May 06, 2009
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones) — Qubisha al Sabosy, a mother of seven in Dubai, used to fly to Europe for medical treatment at the government’s expense. But times are changing.
Billions of dollars of investment in new hospitals and the latest medical technology means Al Sabosy and thousands like her in the Persian Gulf emirate can get the surgery they need at home.
“There is a huge difference in healthcare services here now and we have the latest technologies and the best doctors,” Al Sabosy told Zawya Dow Jones in an interview from her villa in Dubai’s Zabeel suburb.
Instead of visiting a clinic in Germany Al Sabosy was able to have a full knee replacement in January at the Dubai Bone & Joints Center in the new Dubai Health Care City, a specialist business zone built at a cost of 20 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($5.5 billion) that has already lured Harvard Medical School to open a faculty.
Healthcare, an industry thought to be recession proof, could provide a cure for Dubai’s economy as it struggles to cope with a downturn in its real estate sector and the effects of the global financial crisis.
The emirate’s economic planners hope initiatives like Dubai Health Care City will help it tap into a global industry for medical travel that’s expected to be worth $40 billion by 2010, with over 780 million patients seeking care outside their home country.
“The healthcare services sector in Dubai is for sure going to become very important for the region, and will become a very big part of the emirate’s economy,” said Peggy Farley, co-founder of Ascent Medical Technology Funds, a U.S. based company investing in new medical technology.
According to Ascent, revenue from healthcare provision in Dubai is expected to reach $11.9 billion by 2015.
In the United Arab Emirates the government pays for the medical treatment of nationals, with its majority expatriate population relying on either personal, or company health insurance. Al Sabosy’s knee operation cost the government about $22,000, compared with a $40,000 bill for the same procedure in the U.S and that excludes travel.
“The U.A.E. spends nearly $3 billion annually in sending its citizens abroad for specialist health care, such as for cancer and orthopedic treatment,” said Ajay Singh, Harvard Medical’s chief academic officer in Dubai.
Harvard is helping Dubai develop the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Academic Medical Center, which is expected to be the centerpiece for the Dubai Health Care City project.
But Tatweer, the Dubai-government owned company behind the project, doesn’t just plan to care for patients from the U.A.E. The emirate wants to capitalize on the lack of sufficient specialized healthcare centers in the region.
To do this Tatweer has invested about AED 4.5 billion dirhams, with the private sector pumping a further AED15 billion into Dubai Health Care City.
“It’s a huge investment,” said Ayesha Abdullah, senior vice president of Dubai Health Care City, which has so far treated 90,000 patients in the last three years. “There really is no need for people to go abroad.”
The Dubai Bone & Joint Center, where Al Sabosy was treated, says that 15% of its patients are already from outside the U.A.E. “One of our strategic goals is to attract people from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, as well as Iran and Eastern Africa,” said Suzanne Al Houby, the clinic’s vice president.
To be sure, Dubai isn’t alone among Gulf sheikhdoms investing billions into healthcare. Oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi’s investment fund Mubadala has teamed up with top U.S. hospital operator Cleveland Clinic and Imperial College London to develop health projects targeting regional patients in the emirate.
Still not everyone is convinced they can obtain the best care in the region. Many of the Gulf’s top officials and royal dignitaries continue to travel to Europe and the U.S. for treatment instead of seeking care in the Middle East sending the wrong signals to prospective patients. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and the brother of Dubai’s ruler were both recently treated overseas.
For the average patient the cost of treatment will be the deciding factor over whether they decide to stay in Dubai for care, or travel outside the region.
“Cost is one of the major issues,” Ascent Medical’s Farley said. “If they can’t bring the cost down, they won’t be able to compete on an international level.”
But for Al Sabosy, she’s just happy to get medical treatment at home.
Source : Dow Jones Newswires
