FORUM HEARS MEDICAL TOURISTS AT RISK WITHOUT A PROPER PLAN
▶ Complications can lead to high treatment costs as the insurance sector still evolves
Medical tourists travelling in and out of Dubai are largely under-prepared to deal with the financial implications of falling ill overseas, experts say.
Fewer than five per cent of those travelling abroad for medical procedures are estimated to have proper protection, with most travel insurance not covering treatment should something go wrong.
The issue was discussed at the first Dubai International Health Tourism Forum yesterday, where experts warned the cost of emergency treatment abroad can be hundreds of thousands of dirhams.
“Normal travel insurance doesn’t work at all for the self-paying medical tourist and the needs are reasonably significant,” said Jonathan Cooper, director at Worldwide Insurance Solutions.
Mr Cooper said that health authorities had a responsibility to ensure tourists knew how much protection they had before they travelled.
“People are travelling around the world, probably insured under normal travel insurance policies that won’t work for them should something go wrong,” he said.
“They too often associate travel insurance with a visa administrative process, rather than a financial assistance protection process. Most don’t have a bucketload of money to deal with a medical problem while they are travelling.”
The global travel insurance market is estimated to be worth more than $20 billion (Dh73.4bn), although there is no central method of measuring. It is designed to protect the needs of the normal tourist and common coverage includes emergency medical, cancellation, personal effects and personal liability, with the largest risk being medical.
A new comprehensive health coverage plan will allow Emiratis to receive up to Dh500,000 of medical treatment if they are injured when travelling.
The cover is directly billed to the insurer, meaning that UAE citizens would not have to pay cash for treatment.
“Dubai is the leading destination for visitors in this region with about 15 million travellers a year, so we need clear mechanisms to deal with that,” said Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, director of health funding at Dubai Health Authority.
“As Dubai moves towards a health tourism international hub, we have identified that health tourists require a different level of cover that is giving them adequate levels of security should something happen.
“Emergency cover for tourists is often not good enough to do the job. We need to ensure the Dubai experience for tourism or health care is complete. There shouldn’t be any gaps.
“Making sure the whole Dubai experience is a positive one is very important to us.”
The Association of British Insurers says 3,000 travellers are calling on their policy every week to fund emergency medical treatment while abroad.
The cost of the average medical claim in the UK rose by 40 per cent to Dh6,700 between 2011 and 2016, and it is not uncommon for medical fees to reach hundreds of thousands of dirhams.
Most, if not all, insurance policies will exclude travelling for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment and pre-existing medical conditions.
Insurance for medical tourists is still evolving, with few
Insurance for medical tourists is still evolving, with few insurer markets willing to take on the risk
insurer markets willing to take on the risk.
Dubai aims to attract 500,000 medical tourists a year to Dubai by 2020. “One of the things we are looking at for health tourism is how much trust there is in the system,” said Dr Mohaymen Abdel Ghany, chief executive of Al Zahra Hospital in Dubai.
“If the health traveller knows in the unlikely case that something may go wrong there is coverage for these complications, that increases the adoption and level of trust. It is not just about building the infrastructure and services.”