The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with the Embassy of India in UAE has successfully organised a three-day healthcare mission to the UAE from January 10 to January 13th. The 21 member delegation was led by Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman, CII National Committee on Healthcare & President, Indian Healthcare Federation, and director, Escorts Heart Institute & Research Centre.

The delegation visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai with the primary objective of starting a vital dialogue with healthcare providers in the UAE & to identify mutual areas of interest and cooperation between the two countries. The focus areas of partnership and cooperation included medical/health tourism, hospital management, joint-venture hospitals, and medical insurance.

The specific objectives of the mission were to showcase Indian centres of excellence and work out mechanisms for patient referrals, to identify local partners interested in joint ventures with members for setting up healthcare facilities in UAE, to meet up with potential investors in UAE interested in investments to set up high-end healthcare facilities in India, and to dialogue with the government of UAE on management of hospitals which have been identified so far.

The group comprised of senior industry representatives from Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, Wockhardt Hospitals, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, PD Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research Centre, ASIAN Heart Institute, Dr Lal Path Labs Pvt. Ltd., G Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, MEDICOM Solutions (P) Limited, Batra Hospital & Medical Research Centre, SRL Ranbaxy Limited, and Fortis Healthcare Limited.

The delegation is known to have interacted with the Crown Prince Shaikh Hamid Bin Zahid Al Neihyan, chairman, Abu Dhabi Health Authority. The visit also involved high-profile meetings with the Minister of Health, & Under Secretary, Ministry of Health, key officials from the ABU Dhabi Healthcare Authority (GAHS), Health & International Affairs Department in Abu Dhabi, and meetings with the Heads of the Federal Ministry of Health, Department of Health & Medical Sciences in Dubai. The group also met the directors of leading hospitals in Dubai, including the New Medical Centre Hospital, American Hospital, and the prestigious Dubai Healthcare City.

The healthcare market in the UAE has tremendous potential; over the past 5 decades the UAE has seen remarkable progress in health care and comprehensive health programmes have been adopted to meet the needs of UAE society. Currently the UAE has a comprehensive, government-funded health service and a developing private health sector. The Ministry of Health (MOH) budget has increased from US $274 million in 1991 to US $425 million in 2001 with an average increase of 4.39 per cent per year. Approximately 5.5 per cent is spent on medical machines, tools, and supplies.

The government is reassessing its approach to public health services. The UAE is also a country that is undergoing progressive changes in its economy at large. Indian healthcare delegation felt that it is the right time to penetrate the local market as both the government and the employers are getting concerned about increasing costs on providing healthcare to the residents of UAE and their employees. The time is right to focus on areas like medical tourism and outsourcing diagnostics & patient care to a country like India is now a concept that is gaining impetus. Further, there is a need and opportunity for partnerships in hospital management, and joint venture hospitals. The governments concern to implement the same and provide better quality care to patients, moreover bring better services to the UAE provide the right environment for these changes to take place.