Dubai's Medical tourism on track to hit the target

Dubai - As many as 118,727 domestic and inbound medical tourists availed of the medical facilities across 16 private hospitals in Dubai.

Medical tourism in Dubai is on a growth path and has made a revenue of Dh78.5 million in the first quarter of the year.
As many as 118,727 domestic and inbound medical tourists availed of the medical facilities across 16 private hospitals, licensed by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), in Q1 of 2015.
The data was collected through the E-sources system in collaboration with a committee from the Dubai Medical Tourism Club and Dubai Statistics Centre.
The DHA's medical tourism office conducted a revalidation and verification process on the data received from the hospitals, which are members of Dubai Medical Tourism Club.
Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, director of the Health Regulation and the Dubai Medical Tourism project at the DHA, said: "In 2012, the total revenue from medical tourism was Dh65.3 million and now in quarter one of 2015 the revenue is Dh78.5 million. We expect this number to multiply by the end of year. Our target for 2016 was Dh1.18 billion but we will surpass this soon and we aim to surpass our 2020 target, which is Dh2.6 billion by an additional 20 per cent.
"Dubai is seeking to position itself within the top 15 destinations in the world for medical tourism and the first in the region. According to the Medical Tourism Destination Index, Dubai ranks 17th in the world out of 25 countries and accordingly seventh in Asia and second in the Mena region."
Marzouqi said that 46 per cent of the medical tourists are from Asian countries, 25 per cent from GCC and Arab countries, 13 per cent from African countries and the remaining 16 per cent from rest of the world; mainly the UK and Commonwealth of Independent States countries.
The top health specialties availed by the medical tourists are orthopedics surgeries, dental treatments and cosmetics dermatology.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com