",,Can Dubai Healthcare City DHCC become a health tourism destination?,,:

Dubai has been promoting Dubai Health Care City (DHCC) as a world centre for medical tourism. Tourism officials have attempted to talk up the potential by quoting numbers of inbound medical tourists in the millions. But there are no official figures on current inbound and outbound medical tourists.

Phase I of DHCC is going to be completed in 2010, but there still seems no cohesive marketing strategy to promote the location. Listing how many new hospitals and clinics you have, what connections you have to prestigious US and European hospitals, what new equipment you have bought is not a marketing strategy.

Medical tourism is an increasingly competitive marketplace, with over 300 countries targeting international patients. The myths of millions of high-spending American medical tourists, and thousands of Britons seeking ways of jumping NHS queues, have both been shattered. There is a huge international move away from long-trip to short-trip air travel, or travel by road and sea rather than by air.

No longer is Dubai just competing with Asia. It is competing with domestic US medical tourism, South and Central America, Africa, Europe and lots of places previously uninterested in medical tourism. Several competitors are in the Middle East region itself with both Jordan and Lebanon both very active, and Abu Dhabi close behind Dubai in developing its healthcare offerings.

On quality of care, DHCC can promise new buildings, comfort and the latest equipment. The quality of doctors may depend on the number of home and overseas patients a hospital attracts. Leading specialists only remain leading specialists if they can regularly operate, so if they can only rarely use their expertise, they will neither go to nor stay in Dubai. Patient care is about much more than clinical excellence, and on the softer elements of customer care, Dubai has a steep learning curve to climb. A key attraction for medical tourists is financial savings. Compared to top Asian hospitals, Dubai has a serious cost disadvantage.

Dubai has partnered with Harvard Medical International (HMI) to provide a trusted name as its strategic collaborator. But, HMI operates in more than 30 countries including many medical tourism locations, so there is no longer any uniqueness of the partnership in Dubai.

Many other governments are working with health and tourism bodies to promote their country as a medical tourism destination. Some are now expert in marketing and advertising to target countries and individuals. As yet, the Dubai government strategy seems to be limited to a very broad “We have lots of new hospitals, come to us.” 

Thousands of UAE citizens traditionally went to the US for medical treatment. Now fewer patients from the Middle East and Gulf states seek treatment in the US. This does not mean they stay at home.

" 200,000 UAE citizens a year go to Asian countries including 90,000 to Thailand.."

Targeting and capturing the UAE citizens who now go overseas should be the first priority for DHCC. Only when it can convince its own citizens to get treated there can DHCC be regarded seriously as a destination for overseas medical tourists.

DHCC includes scores of international health businesses, but 2009 has not yet seen a single press release from DHCC, and there is no sign of any marketing strategy.