The vision behind Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) is, as with most Dubai
ventures, hardly half-hearted. The £920m project aims to become “the
internationally recognised location of choice for quality healthcare and an
integrated centre of excellence for clinical and wellness services, medical
education and research”.
The site, in central Dubai and initially comprising about 95 acres, will
include medical teaching institutions, private hospitals, clinics and
research centres and aims to bridge the gap in healthcare, education and
research between Asia and Europe.
The construction is in two phases – the first focusing on diagnosis and
conventional clinical treatment, while the second will centre on preventive
and alternative medicine – and it’s in the second phase that the size of
DHCC really hits home, adding about 435 acres, including three hotels, two
resorts, 1,100 apartments, 50 “clinical villas” and six hospitals.
The Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Academic Medical Centre, the core of DHCC’s
structure, has five components: University Hospital; the Harvard Medical
School Dubai Centre Institute for Postgraduate Education and Research, due
for completion at the end of the year; the Dubai Harvard Foundation for
Medical Research; Al-Maktoum Harvard Medical Library; and Boston University
Dental Health Centre & Institute for Dental Research & Education,
which started operations this year.
Dr Muhadditha Yahya al-Hashimi, CEO of DHCC, says: “We are always on the
lookout for productive collaborations with world-class organisations in the
healthcare industry that can add value to the community of Dubai, and foster
better health, education and research.”
The Boston University Institute for Dental Research and Education welcomed its
first batch of residents taking their master of science in dentistry, a
postdoctoral three-year programme in five dental specialisms, in July this
year. The 14 residents are from the UAE, India, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Johnson & Johnson inaugurated The Vision Care Institute, a professional
education centre for opticians working in contact lenses, in June. The
facility has a lecture hall, complete with interactive gadgetry and
equipment, as well as suites and conference rooms. Phil Keefer, worldwide
president of the institute, says: “We expect to train thousands of eye care
professionals every year, once the institute is running at full capacity.”
London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital, founded in 1804, set up its first overseas
branch in Dubai last July. The hospital at the Al Razi Medical Complex, part
of the DHCC, provides day-case surgery and outpatient diagnostic and
therapeutic services, including surgery and emergency care.
“We’re targeting the local and regional markets primarily,” says Dr Chris
Canning, CEO and medical director of Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai. “Our
prices are on a par with the rest of Dubai – but substantially cheaper than
London.”
With referrals from across the region, Moorfields Dubai is capable of treating
95% of all patients on site with only 5% of cases, such as complex
paediatric glaucomas and eye cancers, sent to London.
“We have five doctors, three of whom are Moorfields-trained opthamologists –
they will be here for a few years,” adds Canning. “They probably won’t spend
their whole lives here but it’s a good stepping stone.”
On the critical question of whether DHCC can realise its ambitious visionary
goals, Canning says it’s not a given. It’s about standards, which you can’t
impose. If Uni Hospital works, the rest will follow.”
The 400-bed University Hospital aims to become a regional centre for life
sciences research, postgraduate medical education, and secondary and
tertiary medical services. Construction of the hospital campus started last
summer and, on completion in early 2011, it will offer courses in oncology,
neurology, neurosurgery, musculoskeletal health, orthopedics, diabetes and
metabolic diseases.
Dr Arne Brosig, medical director for the recently opened German Centre for
Neurology and Psychiatry, says one of DHCC’s big advantages is the
concentration of specialisms on the same site. “Doctors don’t have to wait
endlessly for results from other doctors but receive them promptly and can
rely on the quality.”
Services are certainly at an international level, whereas costs are moderate
in comparison, he claims.
While confident DHCC will reach its aims, he recognises the challenges. “There
have been drawbacks in the organisation and communication between DHCC and
the Ministry of Health, which has led to annoyance and frustration of many
doctors or entrepreneurs. The main challenge is it’s still not very
effectively marketed on a larger scale for a prospective centre of
excellence.”
Al Hashimi is confident it will mirror the wider growth in Dubai, which has
set itself as an international tourist destination and become a centre of
trade linking east and west. “It will become an international medical hub as
soon as all the major healthcare projects near completion," she says.
The UAE is targeting 11.2m healthcare tourists by 2010, which would bring
£966m of revenue to the region. However, Dubai’s healthcare sector must not
only keep pace with growing patient demand, but also compete globally for
the top talent.
Al Hashimi admits that the main issues are in recruitment and finding the
highest calibre professionals. “World-class talent based outside the UAE may
be sceptical due to the unfamiliarity of this region,” she says.
“Another challenge is the shortage in allied healthcare professionals,
especially in the nursing field. We are currently in contact with
international organisations to address the shortage in the UAE as well as
the need to create nursing development programmes.”
The American Hospital Dubai is on the hunt for a new CEO and more than 50
physicians, as it branches out into new specialties such as paediatric
diabetology and cosmetic surgery.
WHERE MEDICAL MINDS MEET
Dubai is pitching itself to the medical world as a destination capable of
hosting everything from small meetings to global congresses. The FDI Dubai
World Dental Congress, held last October, attracted more than 20,000
delegates and 3,000 exhibitors. About 80% of delegates were first-time
visitors.
Dubai has won the right to stage the 2011 World Diabetes Conference, which
could host about 12,000 delegates and 500 speakers.
