18% of expats swap GPs for internet amid credit crunch

More than 18 percent of expats in the UAE are using the internet to diagnose their health problems because they are unable to afford the cost of a doctor’s appointment, a new survey has revealed.

The financial crash has also left 15 percent of expats in Saudi Arabia scrimping on prescriptions and forgoing doctor appointments in a bid to cut their spending on healthcare, said researchers at Datamonitor International.

The survey, Datamonitor Recession and Recovery, polled 1,000 residents in 19 countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, to gauge how the downturn was affecting their healthcare spending.

The results showed recession-hit UAE expats were twice as likely to cut back on doctor’s appointments than the global average, while nearly 26 percent are substituting prescription drugs for home remedies to rein in their health costs.

Another 13.3 percent of UAE respondents, and 10.8 percent of Saudi expats, admitted to trying to self-dose with over-the-counter medications, to avoid paying out for a doctor’s visit.

In Saudi, 9.8 percent of expats reported they were trying to cut down on the number of prescriptions they filled by skipping drug doses or splitting pills.

More than 13 percent, and nearly 18 percent of UAE respondents, admitted to skipping their own drugs in order to buy medication for their children, compared to a global average of 10.1 percent.

Imran Ahmed, head of strategy & consulting, MENA, Datamonitor, said Gulf expats had been worst hit by the downturn, in terms of healthcare costs.

“Low and medium-income expats are suffering quite severely in the downturn; they are having to make sacrificial decisions,” he said.

“They’re being hit in healthcare more than people anywhere, in any of the countries we surveyed.”

Although Saudi introduced compulsory insurance in 2007, the lowest-priced plans offer very limited cover, meaning the poorest, neediest residents often have to limit their uptake of care.

In the UAE, only Abu Dhabi has introduced mandatory health insurance. In Dubai and the northern emirates, health insurance is left to the discretion of the employer and expats without cover are only eligible for emergency care at government hospitals.

Ahmed said: “The latest data shows in the UAE, consumers were two times more likely than in the rest of world to say ‘I have had to cut down the number of times I go to the doctor,’ or ‘I’m having to give drugs to my children over giving drugs to myself’.

“People are really suffering in the downturn – they are having to make decisions that are really quite horrible.”

The problem is particularly acute for those with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, which is rife in the Gulf.

These patients make frequent visits to doctors and often take multiple medications; yet many Gulf insurances companies refuse to fund their drugs and will only pay out for acute incidents, Ahmed said.

By cutting back on drugs and appointments, these patients are putting their health at risk.

“An acute incident is more likely to happen if you aren’t managing your disease. When the healthcare companies don’t cover your drugs or any chronic diseases, they don’t cover prevention rather than managing the acute incident. So you have a really backward and short-term health industry.”

To view the full survey, click HERE .

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