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Q
WHAT ARE SOME CORE
REASONS THAT MAKE
UAE AN INTERNATIONAL
AND REGIONAL HUB FOR
MEDICAL TOURISM?
Dr. Marzouqi: For the UAE in general
and Dubai specifically, there’s several
reasons actually: the stability, the safety,
and the air connectivity. We have two
gigantic airlines--Emirates and Etihad
plus the other airlines Fly Dubai and Air
Arabia. This will give easy access to the
country plus there are 32 nationalities
that don’t require a visa for entry so
that’s another plus point. On top of that,
we already have 20 million visitors a
year coming here. Also, we already have
the infrastructure for attracting both
the tourists and investors in the medical
field. The tallest building, the biggest
mall in the world, the tram and metro;
people know about Dubai and have
heard about Dubai. These will make the
UAE and specifically Dubai a hub for
medical tourism.
Then if we put all of this in the tourism
basket and add medical to this, what
we can say is that we have very niche
services we provide, healthcare facilities
to meet the needs of people at all levels,
and healthcare providers from 110
different nationalities. In Dubai we say
we speak your language; you will find
a healthcare professional that speaks
your language here. Plus, now some
of the hospitals are providing five-star
Medical Tourism
in Dubai Soars…
HEALTH
meets with
Dr. Layla Al Marzouqi
Dubai has carved a niche for
itself on the map of global
greats in all aspects, including
medical tourism. We spoke with
Dr. Layla Al Marzouqi, Director
of Health Regulation and the
Dubai Medical Tourism Project
who explained the challenges
and the opportunities in
making Dubai a global medical
tourism hub.
18
Jan/Feb 2016