Dubai hospitals will not raise prices

Dubai: Private hospitals in Dubai and Sharjah have no plans to follow Abu Dhabi's example and raise hospital charges by 40 per cent, saying it is up to the individual hospital.

Abu Dhabi hospitals announced they were planning to raise hospital charges, citing rising healthcare costs. The decision does not affect Dubai or the Northern Emirates, which come under different health authorities.

Most of the hospital officials Gulf News spoke to said there were no official plans to raise the charges at their facility.

Too much

"(Welcare) has an annual revision every year, and depending on the economic outlook, we will raise prices accordingly. But not 40 per cent. That's too much," said Dr Ottmar Schmidt, director of marketing and public relations at Welcare World Health Systems.

He added if they planned to raise prices, they would not go beyond the normal standard of 5 to 15 per cent, depending on the inflation rate.

Dr Girishchandra Varma, acting medical director at NMC Specialty Hospital, agreed, saying they would contact insurance companies first before raising any charges.

"We have to discuss with the insurance companies and give them the price revision," he added.

However, Central Private Hospital in Sharjah has different plans. Mansoor M. Surty, administration manager at the hospital, told Gulf News they were planning to revise their hospital charges by the end of the year.

"The increase may be 10 to 20 per cent. We have to increase the prices because [the cost of] everything has gone up," he said, adding that the hospital's last price revision was in 2005.