Healthier future

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar are expected to register the greatest percentage increase in demand.

Spending on the treatment of cardiovascular disease, which now accounts for twelve percent of the total, will double and grow at almost twice the overall rate of healthcare spending during the period, the survey found.

Despite substantial investments by the GCC governments in medical education over the past 25 years, healthcare systems are still struggling as governments are not equipped to manage healthcare providers.

Unscrupulous practice abroad

In 2007, concerns were raised that unscrupulous doctors were ripping off UAE health tourists by making them undergo unnecessary and expensive treatments.

Klaus Kallmayer, chairman of the German Heart Centre (GHC) in Dubai, said many residents that go aboard for medical treatment are wrongly diagnosed and advised to have invasive procedures done.

"In our experience it appears many hospitals are carrying out the maximum number of high-tech examinations within a short period of time, sometimes without a clear medical indication," Kallmayer said in a statement. "Many of the patients [that come back from having treatment aboard] are seeking out our help as they do not understand the results of their foreign examinations, which have not been clearly explained to them."

Kallmayer also said patients could be putting themselves at risk by flying to the places like Southeast Asia and Europe for treatment.

"When it comes to serious medical disorders, especially those that can deteriorate into an acute illness or life-threatening emergency, flying abroad can quickly turn into a menace," he said.

"From experience, many Emiratis believe that, even in the case of an emergency, they can fly out to Thailand or Europe and undergo treatment there. This is a deadly misconception."

Kallmayer's comments come in response to a report earlier by a leading newspaper that almost 70,000 Emiratis travelled to Thailand for medical treatment last year, an increase of over 40 percent from 2005.

UAE ambassador to Thailand Salim Al Za'abi told the newspaper that the reason for the dramatic rise was distrust and dissatisfaction with the UAE healthcare system.

Kallmayer defended the UAE healthcare system, but admitted not all medical providers are up to standard, calling on those that are not to "leave the market".

Kallmayer also called on the government to discourage health tourism by setting minimum standards for medical insurance and by monitoring the performance of medical providers, stating that it has a negative impact on the UAE healthcare market.

"Medical tourism has a negative impact on the quality of medical care, both for an individual and on a national level, and should be discouraged by the government," he said. The DCCI said the UAE healthcare market is set to grow to $11.9bn by 2015, up from $3.2bn in 2005.

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