There has been a surge of interest in private medical insurance in the UK, with a 65 per cent rise in inquiries since the start of the year, a financial advisory group said.
It comes against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the National Health Service, with waiting lists for treatment reaching record lengths.
This rise in demand was reported by deVere Group, which linked it to a heightened public focus on health care following the global pandemic and continuing geopolitical tensions, leading people to seek alternative solutions to medical problems.
Juan Serey, a private medical insurance adviser with Secure Mortgages and Protection, a partner of deVere Group, said: “The sharp rise in inquiries for private medical insurance underscores the increasing recognition among individuals of the need for reliable and timely healthcare solutions.”
Mr Serey highlighted the alarming extent of NHS waiting lists as a primary driver of frustration, prompting many to look towards the private sector for quicker access to medical services.
Data from the Private Healthcare Information Network (Phin) indicates that private hospitals in Britain set a record last year by treating 820,000 patients – more than in any previous year.
There was also an increase in those personally funding their healthcare needs, with 272,000 people paying for operations or diagnostic procedures in private hospitals, up from 262,000 the previous year and 199,000 in pre-pandemic 2019.
Another 547,000 people received treatment through private medical insurance policies, the highest number since 2019.
In support of this trend, data from Phin indicates that private hospitals in Britain set a record in 2022 by treating 820,000 inpatients and day case patients.
The UK government has even started encouraging patients on NHS waiting lists to book their operations at private hospitals via the health service’s app as part of its strategy to address the extensive backlog in care.
“The current environment, marked by continuing geopolitical tensions and the lingering impact of the global pandemic, has heightened awareness about the fragility of public healthcare systems,” Mr Serey added.
Patients are now looking for comprehensive coverage that extends beyond traditional medical expenses, offering a sense of security in these unpredictable times, the organisation said.
“In the face of global geopolitical tensions, such as conflicts and wars, individuals are increasingly recognising the significance of financial planning and protection,” Mr Serey said.
“Private medical insurance has become a critical component of comprehensive financial strategies, offering individuals the assurance that their health and well-being are safeguarded."
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
