Middle East

Thailand is one of the top destinations for tourists, especially Chinese tourists. The country that is rich in culture, tourist attractions, and cuisines. Besides, Thailand is the leading country in Asia as a medical tourism destination as well. Why would anyone not want to come to Thailand for a low cost of medical treatment, a quality of treatment provided by private medical centers, and the highly developed tourism industry? The trend is booming…..for now as the new wave is coming, and will potentially swallow the majority of those medical tourists from Thailand. The Gulf nations are that new wave. The Gulf region was itself formerly a major source of outbound global medical travel. But in recent years, the UAE and Qatar governments have been transforming their health care systems to not only serve domestic patients, but attract those from overseas as well. Sidra, a tertiary hospital in Qatar, was established to offer specialized treatment to patients willing to travel for the best care, as well as offer locals a level of care previously only available overseas. The hospital, which specializes in women’s and children’s health and complex cardiac and neurological procedures, offers help liaising with consular officials and arranging travel and accommodation. Last year, Qatar announced visa-free travel for China as part of its efforts to mitigate a blockade imposed by a coalition of neighboring countries – a selling point over other medical tourism destinations with restrictive visa rules. While the overall number of tourists to Qatar declined in the first half of 2018, arrivals from China rose nearly 30%. The policy really supports medical travellers, unlike Japan, which medical travellers are required to obtain a medical stay visa with the help of an approved third-party organization. Dubai established its Healthcare City in 2002, as a “Free Healthcare Zone”, with the intention of becoming a global destination for medical research and clinical care. It now boasts more than 150 clinical partnerships and professionals from 90 countries. The Dubai Health Authority claims more than 326,000 medical travellers visited the emirate in 2016, over a third of whom came from Asia. Last month, Healthcare City announced a partnership with a Macau-based healthcare group to offer traditional Chinese medicine services. The analyst revealed to “Kaohoon Online” that the coming of medical tourism in the Gulf nations will impact those medical related companies listed in Thai stock markets, especially the company that specializes in servicing foreigners such as Bumrungrad Hospital Public Company Limited (BH) to have fewer patients as 64% of its revenues are from the medical treatment for foreigners. Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Public Company Limited (BDMS) earned 31% of its revenues from foreign patients.