Dubai looks to tap into medical segment
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The International Medical Travel Exhibition & Conference (IMTEC 2014) is currently underway looking into the continually progressive medical travel industry. The two-day event has Engineer Sobhi A Batterjee, president and group CEO of the Saudi German Hospital Group, who gave his perception on how to increase flow of medical travel patients in the UAE, especially to Dubai.
“The healthcare industry has high entry barriers and a long gestation period. In order to build strong healthcare groundwork suitable to sustain and support a thriving health tourism market, it is necessary to attract corporate players and institutional investors into healthcare and an attractive investment climate for healthcare needs to be developed. Collaboration between government and private agencies, including media, in promoting Dubai as a healthcare destination brand is necessary. Within the ethical framework, media need to promote and highlight the achievements of healthcare providers in order to further encourage the process,” says Batterjee.
A three-pronged approach like infrastructure, regulations and support systems should be implemented in order to promote health tourism. Medical tourism also depends on a smooth immigration policy of the country. A network of direct and non-stop flight availability from the identified health tourism catchment areas and special packages for the patients and families travelling on medical visa will help in building the health tourism industry.
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