Dubai has emerged as a medical tourism destination in the region, but much needs to be done to strengthen its potential, hospital executives say.
To begin with, the destination needs to be promoted as such, and it first needs to address the flow of patients to outside the country.
“A formidable challenge for Dubai is to reverse the outbound medical tourism trend, and provide specialised services in line with the required capacity and the incidence of lifestyle diseases,” said Marwan Abedin, the chief executive of Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC).
Provision for a medical tourism visa that was announced in 2012 has also yet to come into effect.
Patients continue to enter the emirate with a 90-day medical visa issued by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs. The visa is renewable twice, taking the total number of days that one can stay to 270. The existing medical visa, which costs Dh1,120 and Dh660 per renewal, does not fall under the medical tourism initiative.
Insurance and malpractice coverage also needs to be clarified for overseas patients.
“Medical insurance coverage and medical malpractice coverage is also a matter that needs to be better clarified to the end-users coming to avail medical treatments in Dubai and the UAE,” said Jeehan Abdul Qadir, the executive chairwoman of American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital, based in DHCC.
Dubai’s geographical proximity to South Asia and South-East Asia poses a challenge to the emirate in terms of treatment costs, said Harish Pillai, the chief executive of the Dubai-based DM Healthcare’s Aster MedCity complex in Kochi, India.
“It is also important to attract and retain patients in quaternary care such as high-end cardiac procedures and organ transplants, but because of demographics of the UAE that is young and of working age, there is not much need of such care,” Mr Pillai said. “But quaternary care is an important component of medical care and you need to have it here to stem the flow of residents to outside the UAE for such care.”
While Dubai can build its medical tourism proposition around niche areas such as cosmetic surgery, similar to Brazil or Lebanon, such a narrow focus could lead it to miss out the larger picture, he says.
Some of the challenges faced by Dubai’s ambition to become a centre for medical tourism are beyond its boundaries.
Among those are rising costs of treatment worldwide and the high cost of pharmaceutical and medical equipment, said Linda Abdullah Ruhi, the team leader for the medical tourism initiative at Dubai Health Authority.
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MATCH INFO
Watford 2 (Sarr 50', Deeney 54' pen)
Manchester United 0
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
How Beautiful this world is!
Which products are to be taxed?
To be taxed:
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Products excluded from the ‘sweetened drink’ category would contain at least 75 per cent milk in a ready-to-drink form or as a milk substitute, baby formula, follow-up formula or baby food, beverages consumed for medicinal use and special dietary needs determined as per GCC Standardisation Organisation rules
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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Scoreline:
Cardiff City 0
Liverpool 2
Wijnaldum 57', Milner 81' (pen)
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km