Author: Dr Abdulrazak Abyad
Most Middle Eastern countries have placed increasing emphasis on improved healthcare during the past two decades. Delivery of healthcare in the region interrelates strongly with other factors, such as food and nutrition, sanitation, water supply, literacy, and income distribution. In general, the government is the main provider of healthcare, and social insurance is viewed as a public responsibility.
The countries in this region can be divided into the following groups:
- Countries typified by substantial capital, rapid development, and small indigenous health professionals, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and most Gulf states.
- Countries with less capital, more people, a quantitatively larger medical infrastructure, and more trained medical personnel, such as Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.
- Countries whose extensive medical service plans have been halted or greatly decreased in scope because of civil strife or war, such as Iraq.
The total population in the Middle East region is almost 270 million with a total expenditure on healthcare including private hospitals amounts to US$39 billion.
The Middle East's healthcare sector is expanding rapidly, and it has an impact on both the economies and the lives of the people of this region. The estimated value of this sector is $74 billion, and this is expanding at 16 per cent annually.
The sector is emerging as one of the fastest-growing and most attractive markets for the world's hospital equipment and services companies, according to executives of the medical exhibitions and conferences to be held in the region.
The region's healthcare sector is witnessing major medical projects within the Middle East, including Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) and the International Medical Centre (IMC) in Jeddah. The reasons behind this expansion are population and the emergence of countries as potential destinations for healthcare tourism.
The Middle East is an emerging market with expenditure on healthcare predicted to rise to new heights in the next three years. With the private sector growing fast, and health insurance spreading into the market, there is a new focus on quality to raise the level of medical care provided in the region.
The importance of this market is further emphasised by the latest World Bank figures detailing health expenditure patterns in the region.
Medical facilities in the region are relying more on technological innovations that are pushing medical facilities to higher levels of operational sophistication.
A number of important medical/pharmaceutical companies are trying to establish a base in DHCC. These include GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis.
The rapid development over the past few years, of ever more sophisticated medical equipment for diagnosis and treatment has been breathtaking, and patients are benefiting from the rapid introduction of technology.