ABU DHABI: It’s a trend of sorts among many Asian expatriates living in
the UAE to wait till vacation time to go home and avail of more affordable medical
options available there.
A Sri Lankan expatriate who often
suffers tooth problems says she prefers her home country to get dental
treatment. “Since I am not covered for most medical treatment here and also the
fact that treatment back home costs much less, that choosing treatment at home
turns out to be more cost-effective even after factoring air ticket costs,” she
says.
High dental costs do force many
expatriates to seek treatment in their own countries. According to many
dentists, there’s no uniformity in prices charged by the dental clinics.
Moreover, many employees are not dentally covered by insurance.
Indian expatriate Sajida,
childless after eight years of marriage, says she often visits her home country
for treatment. “I am not covered for infertility treatment here,” she says.
Moreover, she prefers her loved ones to be near her when she is trolleyed into
the theatre for scanning and the countless tests done on her.
Many expatriate employees working
in the UAE are not able to spare a large portion of their incomes for health
issues, “that’s why we prefer to wait till holiday time to go home to get
ourselves treated,” they say.
Gynaec experts based in Abu Dhabi
told The Gulf Today that not only lower income expatriates residing here, even
some rich citizens of the UAE prefer to seek medical treatment abroad for
surgeries.
“They prefer the European
countries, because many a time their pleasure trips overlap with medical
treatment.”
“Thailand and India are also
favourite haunts for medical treatment. Medical issues usually relate to minor
gynaec cases, namely diagnostic Hysteroscopy and Colposcopy,” the source added.
“Since infertility and cosmetic
surgeries are not covered by insurance, they would work out very expensive
here. Most middle income group patients prefer going back home for gynaec
surgeries, which include surgeries for the treatment of diseases as well as
cosmetic surgeries.”
Gallup Survey
Here alone (which has a huge
expatriate population), thirty-nine per cent prefer medical care in another
country, according to a Gallup survey.
“Sizeable numbers of nationals in
Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries prefer to seek medical attention outside
of their own country when they are confronted with a serious health concern.”
Among the GCC nationals surveyed
in 2011, 65 per cent of Kuwaitis are the most likely to prefer receiving
medical care abroad, with 35 per cent of Saudis being the least likely.
While Gallup surveys show that
most GCC residents are satisfied with the availability of quality healthcare in
their region, outbound medical care remains an expensive problem for Gulf
governments, with the UAE alone spending $2 billion per year to send its
residents abroad for treatment.
Patients may choose to travel
abroad because of better quality of care available there or the unavailability
of some medical specialties at home, such as oncology.
Meanwhile Gulf governments have
worked to prioritise healthcare in recent years, with the government of Abu
Dhabi partnering with international healthcare leaders such as the Cleveland
Clinic to improve healthcare conditions within the country and Saudi Arabia
scheduled to allot $73 billion for building of hospitals and healthcare centres
between 2010 and 2014.
Gallup adds: “Still, much work
remains to be done to convince GCC residents that they don’t have to travel
abroad to obtain high quality healthcare.”
Gallup results are based on
face-to-face and telephone interviews with 495 and 897 GCC nationals — aged 15
and above — conducted in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Shamila Jamaluddin
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