The Growth and Development of Dubai’s Healthcare and Medical Tourism Sector
Dubai’s healthcare sector continues to grow. Continuing growth and investment in the healthcare sector reflect Dubai’s emergence as a global healthcare destination. Dubai offers high-quality care, conforming to international standards, for citizens, residents and visitors in a full range of medical specialties and subspecialties.
The Dubai International Health Tourism Forum
The Dubai International Health Tourism Forum (DIHF) is a premium gateway for healthcare providers across the world to explore wellness related business opportunities designed to attract FDIs, as well as discussing medical & wellness tourism strategies and to improving population health management. The Forum focused on the theme “Reimagining Experience” in healthcare travel and was dedicated to bringing together prominent leaders and pioneers from the public and private health and travel sectors.
During this event, Canadian University Dubai students from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, accompanied by Dr. Ahmad Okasha, were invited by Dubai Health Authority to attend the Dubai International Health Tourism Forum. The conference provided our students with first hand exposure to and interaction with international health industry experts and health executives. Speakers engaged in inspirational, thought provoking, and future-focused dialogues aiming to enhance the experience of health travel in Dubai and worldwide. Topics covered included medical tourism Insurance, patient centered care, the role of Social Media, the future of health tourism, areas of health tourism experience, the impact of technological innovation on health tourism and health travel metrics.
Expansion of Health Facilities and Infrastructure
According to a recently published report by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), a total of 143 new health facilities were licensed in Dubai in the first quarter of 2023, bringing the total number of health facilities in Dubai to 4,609, an increase of 11.5% compared to the previous year. To better understand the scale of this infrastructure, the following table summarizes the current distribution of medical facilities:
| Facility Type | Total Count |
|---|---|
| Hospitals | 52 |
| Specialised clinics | 77 |
| One-day surgery centres | 58 |
| Dental clinics | 82 |
| Clinics | 122 |
| Pharmacies | 1,325 |
| Optics centres | 414 |
| Nursing homes | 160 |
| Alternative medicine centres | 57 |
Global Medical Tourism Performance
The Medical Tourism Index 2020–21, which surveys destinations on criteria such as attractiveness, safety and quality of care, ranked Dubai 1st place in the Middle East and 6th in the world for medical tourism. The city saw remarkable growth in medical tourism in 2022, with 674,000 medical tourists spending Dh 992 million in the year, an increase of Dh 262 million from 2021.
Healthcare Professionals and Workforce Opportunities
The number of doctors and other healthcare professionals in Dubai is also increasing. Dubai currently has 56,239 licensed healthcare professionals. DHA’s projections for 2023 and beyond estimate a growth of 10–15 percent for medical professionals. There are opportunities within the dynamic and growing UAE healthcare sector for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals with the right qualifications, skills and experience, with some specialities particularly in demand. Western-trained doctors, especially those with advanced fellowships post-specialization, are sought after to bring new skills and techniques to the region.