Healthcare spending in the UAE jumps to contribute 5.67% of the country’s GDP

Total healthcare spend in the Middle East and Africa is growing at a higher rate – 42 per cent – to $279 billion, due to lack of awareness on health issues, obesity and sedentary lifestyle.

Greater public awareness on health issues, common diseases and change in lifestyle habits could help reduce the overall global healthcare spend that last year reached $10.06 trillion and growing at a rate of 30 per cent worldwide. This is about a tenth of the global gross domestic product (GDP) that last year reached $101.6 trillion.

Healthcare spending in the UAE jumped 5.67 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2020, up from 4.3 per cent in 2019, according to World Bank. Healthcare spending by UAE residents is set to grow by nearly one-third in the coming years due to a rise in the ageing population and more people suffering from lifestyle diseases, according to Alpen Capital’s latest report on GCC healthcare, which shows the per capita healthcare spending in the UAE stood at $1,992.1 (Dh7,300) in 2020, the second highest in the GCC.

The country’s healthcare spending is projected to outpace its GCC peers at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.4 per cent to reach $30.7 billion by 2027 from $21.5 billion in 2022. According to IMF data, the UAE’s population base is expected to rise at a CAGR of 1.6 per cent between 2022 and 2027. Therefore, per capita healthcare spending is expected to grow from $2,041.3 in 2022 to $2,689.4 in 2027, the report’s finding shows.

In the GCC, healthcare expenditures were projected to reach $104.6 billion in 2022, according to the UAE Ministry of Economy, while government spending on the sector was estimated at $30.5 billion in 2021, well above just $2.4 billion in 2016.

“Greater consultation with pharmacists could help reduce the healthcare cost and greatly improve the wellbeing of the UAE residents,” Prof. Saeed Ahmed Khan, Dean of Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls, told Khaleej Times. “Pharmacists could play a bigger role in helping the patients recover faster with better medication and our pharmacists are much better equipped to handle any pandemic or any outbreak of diseases. They have demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic as the UAE had one of the lowest casualty rates and had recovered very fast, thanks to the UAE’s healthcare system and our doctors and pharmacists.”

The region has over 742 hospitals with more than 106,693 beds in addition to a large number of primary healthcare centers, clinics and laboratories and there is no end to the expansion in sight, according to the Alpen Capital report. With a massive pipeline of an estimated 161 healthcare projects across the GCC with a combined value of $53.2 billion, the scale of the region’s healthcare services is going to expand even further, according to Alpen Capital.

Saudi Arabia has the highest number of healthcare projects under construction, accounting for 19.2 per cent. In October 2022, Saudi Arabia’s health ministry announced that over the next five years it would give a green light to 100 projects, which will be undertaken in cooperation with the private sector. The deals will be worth around SAR48 billion ($12.8 billion).

According to a research note by Colliers International, Saudi Arabia will require 29,000 to 47,000 additional hospital beds by 2030, requiring an additional investment of $16.2 billion to $26.3 billion, mostly from the private sector. The Saudi ministry aims to raise the private sector’s contribution to the healthcare system, one of its long-term investment priorities, from 25 per cent to 35 per cent by 2030.

Saudi Arabia has the highest number of healthcare projects under construction, accounting for 19.2 per cent, followed by Kuwait with 14 per cent, the UAE with 11.5 per cent.

In order to address these and to develop an understanding of the depth of health risks and solutions, Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls launched a five-day camp that involves a series of intensive seminars and workshops for students to give them a taste of different aspect of medicine and pharma-related education. The camp for girl students of 11 and 12 grades will see participating students gain first-hand industry knowledge on how medicine is prepared and how medication works on health, possible remedies to certain health problems, benefits of herbal and natural medicine, beauty, cosmetics, etc that will end with a certificate award ceremony.

The faculty members of Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls are renowned experts, who train the students during the camp. The students stand to learn healthcare communication skills, pharmaceutics - cosmetics preparation like lipsticks and body lotion, compounding and pharmaceutical preparation - mouth washes, lozenge, pharmaceutical chemistry - exciting laboratory experiments using instruments. Natural product activities - testing purity (honey, olive oil and perfumes) clinical pharmacy - medication dispensing activity using model pharmacy, medication safety using different home test kits and devices and clinical skills and communication skills.

Prof. Khan said that the camp is designed to inspire high school girl students as they explore pharmacy as a career option. Dispelling the myth that a pharmacist is limited to dispensing medicines in a community pharmacy, he explained that the pharmacists are the medication experts on the healthcare team. “Pharmacists work in a variety of settings, including community-based pharmacies, long-term care facilities, hospitals, clinics, research labs and the medical and pharma industry. Careers in pharmacy consistently rank at the top in many European Countries, the United States, and the Middle East, for salary, job satisfaction, growth opportunity, and work-life balance. The demand for well-trained pharmacists continues to grow, especially for women,” he added.

• Business