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DHA woos tourists with ‘beautiful’ packages

The Dubai Health Authority's ‘Be Beautiful in Dubai’ campaign offers special cosmetic surgery packages to boost medical tourism

Photo courtesy/Corbis Images

Dubai –For those coming to Dubai for that extra bit of the sun in summer might as well consider getting a nose job done while they are here.

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is inviting people to buy wellness and cosmetic surgery packages over the summer months and get the procedures done a bit later.

The ‘Be Beautiful in Dubai’ campaign will be promoted by the authority in July and August through a dedicated website while the procedures can be conducted in September and October, according to Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, Director of the Health Regulation and the Dubai Medical Tourism Initiative at the DHA.

With hundreds of applications received daily from health professionals who are interested in working in Dubai to more and more hospitals and clinics opening, Al Marzouqi said Dubai’s Medical Tourism Strategy was on the right track.

Dr Layla Al Marzouqi talking to Khaleej Times. — KT photo by Mohammad Mustafa Khan

In an interview with Khaleej Times Dr Layla said: “We can say that the sector is growing by 12-15 per cent each year.” Cosmetic procedures are among the fastest growing and the most popular among medical tourists visiting Dubai, she said.

“Some members of the Dubai Medical Tourism Club are providing us with special packages which we are going to promote through our website and social media,” she said. “For this, we are planning to target a specific market to come to Dubai for wellness and cosmetic surgeries. The packages we are going to put for them will include accommodation, visa and insurance as well,” she added.

On the medical tourism map

To promote its medical tourism plan globally, the DHA has recently taken a medical tourist expert on board. “The expert will be with us for six months to help us with the next stage and help us put Dubai on the map of medical tourism,” said Dr Layla. “He will advise us on the upcoming travel insurance scheme and help position us as the fastest growing city in medical tourism in the world.”

The health authority is also currently working on carving out a brand name for it’s medical tourism strategy.

“In the coming six weeks, we will have the new Dubai medical tourism website that will include the branding and smart applications,” she said. “This website is going to be like a basket as it will offer all services in once place.”

“It will list packages, hotels, accommodations, airlines as well as insurance and visa…it is going to be one window for all the medical tourism,” she added. The website will also include details on the travel insurance required for such procedures.

“This is travel insurance and it will be different from the mandatory insurance scheme currently being rolled out by the DHA,” she said.

According to Dr Layla, Dubai is among the few countries where the government has taken interest in promoting medical tourism. “Countries like Thailand, for example, do it individually.”

The Dubai experience

“People are hearing about our initiatives and are they are inviting us to talk about the Dubai experience at international conferences such as in Tunis, Greece and Turkey.

“People are already contacting us from Eastern Europe and asking us to participate in their conferences because of the name of Dubai.”

She also said that the website would list packages at discounted rates. “Anyone who would like to avail of this rate will have to buy insurance…its going to be compulsory,” she said.

“For example, if you buy packages for rhinoplasty, the insurance will not cover you for the procedure but for any unforeseen prolonged stay after the procedure and even if you go home and develop a complication,” said Dr Layla. “This we are doing to give the patient peace of mind…We will also fly them back to Dubai if needed in such cases though the patient will pay for that expense separately,” she added.

The official said that the authority was currently collecting statistics from the tourists including those who visit each facility, the specialty they are looking for, the countries they come from and the amount of money they are spending in UAE.

“By seeing the country they are coming from will guide us whether to continue with the current plans or if there is a need to change the target market and the kind of packages that we need to develop,” she said.

Star ratings

Talking about star rating for hospitals which will start soon, Dr Layla said that performance management and ranking of hospitals would help in investment in healthcare and help medical tourists choose the hospital they want.

At present, 31,500 healthcare professionals are working in Dubai. “Dubai’s capacity planning for 2020 indicates that we still need more people…We are getting 200 applications per day so the demand is there and people are still coming and more and more hospitals and clinics are opening. We are on the right track.”

The DHA plans to add Dh2.6 billion ($708 million) to its economy and attract 500,000 medical tourists by 2020. -asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com