The medical industry across the United Arab Emirates – from Dubai to Abu Dhabi – is in crisis according to leading health professionals and commentators on the industry. The situation has developed because demand for care has risen whilst insurance companies have restricted the amount by which premiums can be increased.
Naturally this means that staff in the hospitals and clinics are stretched and overworked, and there is not enough money to pay for new staff. Nurses have threatened to strike, leading to Bahrain suggesting that it will triple pay for nurses and doctors for example.
Meanwhile, other emirates and nations in the GCC region are stating that healthcare in the UAE is at risk, unless a thorough industry overhaul happens. They are calling for the government to step in and help out by allowing hospitals to charge more, having the increased costs passed down the line to the likes of expats living in Dubai and the UAE who pay for private insurance, and easing the bureaucracy that expatriate nurses and doctors have to contend with.
According to a detailed report in the Arabian Business online newspaper, the number of beds across the UAE is not high enough to cope with demand as increased numbers of expats move to live in the region, and also the numbers of individuals seeking treatment for more serious conditions rises. Additionally, the healthcare industry is suffering from a lack of qualified medical staff and a restriction on who it can lure to the UAE and recruit because of the relatively small amount it can pay specialists, which means the region is not competitive.
Bahrain has been forced to recognise this last fact because its medical staff threatened to walk out on a series of strikes over a 3 week period, which would not only have put many lives at risk, it would have undermined Bahrain’s very status. There leaders have now suggested tripling rates of pay for expatriate nurses and doctors – which should in turn have the desired effect and entice professionals from overseas to relocate to work in Bahrain.
Other emirates and countries in the GCC region have yet to follow suit – however it is likely they will have to do so, or crack under the strain that their medical industry is in. However, according to a leading healthcare professional, whilst medical insurance companies stick together and lobby for governmental support on placing restrictions on the amount by which policies can rise, hospitals across the region fail to work together. Therefore there exists competition where there should be none. Instead, medical professionals across the UAE are calling for ‘whatever it takes’ type measures to save lives and ultimately, save the healthcare industry.
The massive overhaul that is required involves hospitals being allowed to be competitive in terms of the salaries they offer professionals. In turn this would boost their rating as leading medical centres in the world and attract greater numbers of patients. These patients will be forced to bear the brunt of the increased wages and charges through inflated health insurance premiums. It has been suggested the governments could subsidise health insurance premiums to a degree. It has also been suggested that governments across the region work together to reduce the amount of bureaucracy that expatriate doctors have to face.
Currently a doctor who wants to work within the UAE has to select the emirate in which he wants to work, travel there on a visit visa, undergo a series of tests and examinations to determine his level of professionalism and then and only then is he allowed to seek work. If he wishes to move to another hospital in another emirate he will have to go through the same procedure again. This is just another way in which the UAE’s healthcare industry is uncompetitive and also ineffective.
Meanwhile, back on the wards and it’s the patients who are suffering. There are not the staffing levels available to provide the care needed – and harassed and overworked doctors and nurses are finding it harder and harder to give the level of professional care that they would like to.
Clearly healthcare in the UAE is at risk unless there is a total industry overhaul. And because all doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals across the region are behind this demand, it is hoped that something will have to give sooner rather than later, and expatriates and locals alike will get the level of care they need from well paid and happy professionals!
