Forward Planning: Advanced healthcare and insurance

As the world is becoming smaller, with distances as short as a stroke on a PC keyboard and pictures from everywhere coming to our homes on the TV through satellite signals, we are required to move even faster to comprehend all the changes around us and employ them to our benefit.

Dubai today is doing exactly that by introducing concepts and ideas which are quite advanced for this part of the world and maybe even for the rest of the world.

To make the impossible a reality takes courage and vision starting with the establishment of the free zones, Media City, Internet City, Investment Authority, malls, highways, other modern infrastructure, stock market, Dubai International Financial Centre and, lately, the Healthcare City project. I haven't talked to anyone who didn't find it necessary and significant to have a highly advanced healthcare centre here.

The worry over not getting proper medical treatment has always made us dread even more, the possibility of becoming seriously ill or being injured in an accident. Existing healthcare facilities are either governmental or private.

The government healthcare facilities, through the management of the Ministry of Health and the local health departments, are struggling, trying to meet the high quality healthcare standards demanded by the people.

The undersecretary of the Ministry of Health clearly explained to me when I met him the extensive work and processes in which the ministry is involved now to achieve its goal of modernising and upgrading the quality of healthcare provided by government hospitals and clinics.

Social healthcare will be established to cover all nationals side by side with private medical insurance. Services won't be free any more and the government healthcare system will be managed in a professional way by qualified private healthcare management companies.

Although we don't lack very good doctors, one of the main problems we face in the UAE is the absence of highly experienced and skilled nurses, as the few who are here just use the UAE as a transit stop to the West. If the right conditions are created, skilled nurses and highly qualified and experienced doctors will be attracted to stay in the UAE instead of emigrating to the U.S., Canada or Australia.

On the private healthcare side, the American hospital, Al Zahra hospital, New Medical Centre, Welcare hospital, Al Noor Medical Centre, Al Dowaly Hospital, Abul Houl Medical Centre and other facilities are far from meeting the highly sophisticated medical attention requirements needed for the treatment of serious medical complications.

While the Saudi and Jordanian kingdoms have advanced healthcare facilities, including medical research and laboratories, these facilities here are almost non-existent, resulting in many medical tests having to be performed abroad.

Also, there are no specialised facilities dealing with the specific local kinds of diseases and sicknesses. Trauma treatments after accidents not being up to the necessary standards, the injured may die, or if their condition worsens, it may lead to complications and resulting disabilities.

Some advanced medical facilities do exist such as Tawam and Al Mafraq hospitals that specialise in the treatment of cancer, but the creation of a larger and more comprehensive complex like Healthcare City is very much needed today in the region.

Talking about building advanced healthcare facilities is wonderful but what about the financing of these intended facilities and services? The services in such an establishment will be rather expensive compared to the tariffs and fees practised elsewhere at that time (which is forecast to be 2010).

The answer is medical insurance. The industry is, therefore, expected to witness a tremendous premium growth. The Saudi kingdom recently required its 6.4 million expatriates to be medically insured, a step already taken by Kuwait. The UAE will soon follow.

So don't be surprised if nationals and expatriates alike are asked to contribute to the healthcare services, whether governmental or private, through medical insurance.