More specialised health care needed in UAE

With ever-increasing demand and growing lifestyle diseases it is important to further expand this sector

The UAE’s focus on the health sector has always been one of its core nation-building objectives, and over the decades, the infrastructure and policies in this area have seen a tremendous boost. Providing world-class health care is one of the six pillars of UAE’s National Agenda, in line with Vision 2021 and one of the crucial areas of health care are specialised services that occupy one end of the health spectrum, with basic services being at the other end.

Specialised services or speciality hospitals provide the muchneeded solutions to advanced medical conditions as well as for the complications of lifestyle afflictions such as diabetes, obesity, heart diseases and brain strokes, particularly as they are on the rise.

While the UAE is steadily expanding its specialised care facilities with state-of-the-art speciality hospitals already offering the best care, the fact that there is an annual increase of 10 per cent of patients seeking treatments abroad, according to a report by the Federal National Council’s Health and Environment Committee, provides the impetus to accelerate the pace of development in this area. This will also provide a boost to the medical tourism objectives of the UAE, which have been showing an impressive growth over the last few years.

Another significant projection in the report referred to the market for specialised therapeutic services being expected to reach Dh71.5 billion in 2020, with a growth rate of 12.7 per cent. The number of elderly is expected to increase to 11 per cent in 2032 and 29 per cent in 2050.

These realities emphasise the need to expand the specialised health-care sector to be prepared to fulfil ever-increasing demands.