Hadi Malaeb, managing partner of Dubai-based Aura Events, the owner and organiser of the World Health Tourism Congress, explains why the demand for medical tourism is growing in the Gulf and how the region can cash in on this lucrative business.
The Gulf can build on centres of medical excellence to attract international patients
The demand for health tourism is growing in the Gulf. Why?
There are several factors contributing to the growth of medical travel from the Gulf Co-operation Council countries to other destinations. The GCC is witnessing a rapid population growth rate combined with an ageing population and an acute shortage of qualified medical staff and bed capacity. A report from consultancy McKinsey, published last summer, estimates that over the next 20 years treatment demand in the region will rise by 240 per cent. In particular, cardiovascular disease will experience a steep increase (419 per cent), as will diabetes-related ailments (323 per cent). The medical establishments in the Gulf are not equipped to handle these numbers. So there is a real need for the governments to send their nationals to be treated abroad. People also choose to travel abroad for medical treatment, even if local expertise is available, to avoid waiting lists or because of lower costs.
Is the Middle East considered a key market for hospitals trying to attract foreign patients?
Yes. The Middle East is one of the few areas in the world where the government pays to send its nationals to be treated abroad.
What do you estimate the value of the health tourism business from the GCC to be?
It is very hard to estimate what the overall size of the industry is in the region. There are unconfirmed reports that the industry in the Gulf was worth about $10 billion in 2008. Overall, the amount of money at stake in the global medical tourism market is huge. McKinsey estimates that the industry was worth $60 billion in 2006 and that it will reach $100 billion by 2012.
Which countries or regions tend to attract the most patients from the Middle East?
According to McKinsey, 58 per cent of GCC patients go to North America for treatment, 32 per cent go to Asia, eight per cent go to Europe and the remaining two per cent go to other countries in the Middle East.
What sort of medical treatment or surgery is most in demand?
The main categories of treatment in demand right now are cardiovascular, diabetes, sense organ diseases and cancer treatment. Of course, these figures are easier to track than elective and non-essential surgeries that are basically done by and paid for by individuals, because it is usually the government or the insurance companies that pay for them. Elective surgery procedures, where a person would elect to visit another country and combine their vacation with a surgical procedure, are usually of a cosmetic nature.
A number of health tourism projects are planned for the Gulf, for example Bahrain’s Dilmunia Health Island. What are their prospects?
Each project will have to be studied on a case-by-case scenario, but what we can say for sure is that it takes a lot of work to convince potential patients to come to the Gulf region for treatment. We have seen some initiatives launched in the last five years, notably in Dubai’s Health Care City, Bahrain’s Dilmunia and some other projects in Saudi Arabia. I would like to see these projects succeed, but I think we still have a long way to go.
Can the Gulf become a medical tourism destination in its own right?
In the long term, yes. There are some centres of medical excellence in the region and we can build on that to attract international patients. The region is already a popular tourist hub for Europeans, Arabs, Asians and North Americans and we can build on this brand recognition. However, I have to stress that this is a long-term project and it needs the partnership of the public and private sectors.
Can the Gulf compete with cheaper health tourism destinations, for example India or Thailand?
Yes we can. You cannot have a medical tourism positioning strategy based on being the cheapest. Singapore for example is much more expensive than India. However, they do not position their medical tourism offer as the cheapest, but as one of the best in the world. South Korea, a recent entrant into the health tourism segment, has been very successful in attracting patients from the GCC recently and they are far more expensive than Thailand and India. I don’t think that the Gulf would want to position itself as a cheap medical tourism destination, but rather create a niche market within the health tourism segment.
You’re organising the World Health Tourism Congress in Durban next year. How many participants from this region are you expecting?
We anticipate more than 700 delegates to attend and about 20 per cent of those will be from the Arab region. Now in its fifth year, the World Health Tourism Congress has established itself as the biggest annual global event for medical tourism in the world. We focus on bringing together the destinations that tend to be "exporters" of medical tourism – sending patients to other countries for treatment – with the "importers" of medical patients in a business-to-business format. We invite all decision-makers from the GCC health ministries so they can meet with hospitals and clinics from all over the world. It makes their job of searching for the best hospitals and best treatments in the world much easier.
