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Your medical bill: Does it give you the shivers?
There is a public perception that healthcare in the UAE is poor, with stories of malpractice (or medical complaints) and insurance problems frequently being published in newspapers.
- By Manal Alafrangi, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:00 November 27, 2006
There is a public perception that healthcare in the UAE is poor, with stories of malpractice (or medical complaints) and insurance problems frequently being published in newspapers.
In spite of this, the latest YouGov/Gulf News survey finds the majority of UAE residents feel the overall healthcare system is "good". Only 26 per cent find it "bad".
This month's YouGov/Gulf News survey focuses on various elements of healthcare in the UAE. A total 554 residents answered questions about the quality and accessibility of hospitals and medicines, and they reflected on problems associated with the existing system in the UAE.
The most pressing issues centred on cost, quality and medical coverage.
Many residents feel there are adequate numbers of hospitals in the UAE to serve the entire community. A close look at the nationality of respondents shows slight disparity: While two thirds of Emiratis and Asian expatriates feel positive about the number of hospitals, Western expatriates tend to be more critical.
Income is a factor; the more money individuals make, the less satisfied they are with the existing number of hospitals.
Public vs private
We asked UAE residents to rate the services offered by different kinds of hospitals and clinics (public and private establishments). Private hospitals fare better than public hospitals with 76 per cent of respondents favourably rating their service against only 50 per cent for public hospitals.
Emiratis, in particular, are optimistic about government hospitals, with nearly 8 out of 10 giving them approval.
Seven out of 10 UAE residents find the services offered by private clinics to be good. Perhaps not surprisingly, the highest approval comes from respondents belonging to the highest salary bracket of $8000 or above (Dh26,390).
On government hospitals, opinion is split; 53 per cent of Emiratis think the service is good but other nationality groups find faults with it.
Interestingly, Asian expatriates are the most supportive of public hospitals (61 per cent). This could be attributed to the fact that a large number of the working class from the Asian community may not have access to private health insurance.
Western expatriates are the least supportive of government hospitals, with a large number of them saying they can't comment on the service offered by public hospitals, generally indicating that this group does not use their services that much.
When it comes to public clinics, all nationality groups spill out a negative sentiment; Asian opinion, however, is more polarised.
Bearing that in mind, the verdict on cost is out: private hospitals are expensive. Over 9 in 10 respondents (regardless of nationality) think private hospitals are too expensive. Authorities and hospitals alike should take due notice of this.
Asian expatriates are the most critical (98 per cent) whereas Arab expatriates are the least critical (89 per cent). A close look at income reveals a pattern: as the salary bracket decreases, more people are calling private hospitals "very expensive".
One angle to tackle the high bills of UAE hospitals is to compare their cost with that of UAE resident's home countries. While many Arab and Western expatriates find UAE hospitals more expensive, Asian expatriates are the most critical of UAE medical expenses.
This includes medicines, which the majority of our expatriate respondents agree are highly priced here compared to their home countries.
When it comes to medicine purchase, an overwhelming 97 per cent of Asian expatriates say they find it expensive. Emiratis and Western expatriates are somewhat less critical with nearly 7 out of 10 saying medicine is expensive.
Generally, respondents are more critical of expenses of private hospitals, clinics and medicines (pharmacies) with each successive age group.
By and large, UAE residents say they have not experienced shortages in medicine supplies in the UAE. However, figures for those who had were rather high, indicating that shortage of medicine is definitely a problem in the UAE.
Our respondents feel pharmacies should be allowed to import their own drugs - assuming they have ministry approval.
Western respondents, in particular, are the most inclined to favour liberalisation when it comes to importing drugs. They also find UAE laws to be slightly more restrictive than they would like, which is in sharp contrast to the other nationality groups that are content with the existing laws.
In a hypothetical setting, we asked our respondents if they were diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, where they would prefer to be treated.
While Arab expatriates would opt for treatment in the best known hospitals/clinics abroad, most Western and Asian expatriates would prefer to be treated in their home countries.
Moreover, UAE residents (regardless of their nationality or religious affiliation) are more inclined to opt for Allopathic/conventional medicine.
With that in mind, Western expatriates are equally inclined to try traditional, complementary and alternative medicine.
Health cards
Our figures indicate that the government health card initiative has thus far been deficient, with less that 1 in 10 people using it for health related issues. The government health card is only "popular" with Emiratis with almost 4 in 10 choosing this method of payment for medical expenses.
The majority of respondents (42 per cent) have company medical insurance - as opposed to other means of payment. It is interesting to note that 51 per cent of Asian expatriates rely on their personal finances to pay off medical bills against just 24 per cent of Western expatriates.
This could be explained by the fact that less Asian expatriates surveyed receive company insurance plans when compared to other expatriates.
Would UAE residents be better off with a universal private medical insurance for everyone? Opinion is largely favourable to all aspects of this notion; respondents firmly believe it would increase speed and quality of treatment as well as open up options for treatment, thus leading to better overall health for UAE residents.
Key factors to improve healthcare standards include ensuring health insurance for all residents (70 per cent), more stringent control on the quality of healthcare (67 per cent) and in for third position is setting up a committee to handle health related customer grievances (56 per cent).
Currently, the Dubai Healthcare City is being developed by the Dubai Government with the goal of creating an all-around regional medical centre, enhancing medical education and developing life science research in the Middle East.
Respondents are divided on whether the project will meet future demand or not - with Western expatriates being the most critical of it.
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