Dubai: The Dubai Executive Council has approved a strategy for medical tourism to make Dubai a leading health-care destination.
The strategy was approved at Wednesday’s council meeting chaired by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, in the presence of Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and First Deputy Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.
The medical tourism strategy presented by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) aims to provide high-quality health services at acceptable prices that attract visitors and tourists to the emirate. The plan also aims at establishing a health system that provides excellent services within a tourism theme by focusing on highly qualified medical cadres, which will help attract more people to visit Dubai for treatment.
DHA has set a comprehensive strategy to invest in six medical disciplines — dentistry, cosmetic surgery, eye surgery, general medical screenings, orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine.
A plan to implement the strategy has been set up. The four-theme plan deals with competitiveness, determining priorities, competitive markets and medical specialisations to set up price benchmarks.
The second theme revolves around Dubai’s international position, as the plan aims to rank the emirate among the top 15 global destinations, and among the top five destinations in the Middle East in medical tourism. It also includes the launch of Dubai’s medical tourism e-portal to keep pace with Dubai’s Smart City project launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The third and fourth themes of the plan focus on increasing the number of tourists visiting Dubai for treatment to achieve revenues from offering high-quality medical services and achieving sustainability.
The council also discussed a number of projects and topics, including a proposal on investing in lands designated for housing, with the aim of sustainable income to support government housing projects. The council members reviewed recommendations of the previous meeting with regard to updating the council’s agenda for 2014, which coincides with the UAE National Agenda that aims to develop education, health, economy, housing, Emiratisation and police services through projects and initiatives implemented by the UAE over the seven years as part of UAE Vision 2021.
