Dubai's medical tourism strategy and an increasing number of local hospitals benchmarking their facilities and services against global best practices have added momentum to the emirate's emergence as a leading healthcare destination, said an expert.

Under the strategy, Dubai looks at attracting 500,000 medical tourists by 2020, the year in which the city would host the World Expo.

The target for the first phase is to bring in 170,000 medical tourists by 2016, a jump of over 50,000 from the 107,000 arrivals in 2012.

"In terms of infrastructure, connectivity and qualified personnel Dubai was already well-positioned to attract a major share of the healthcare tourism traffic," remarked Dr Haider Al Zubaidy, the chief executive of Canadian Specialist Hospital (CHS), a leading private sector hospital in the UAE.

Under an agreement between Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA), people seeking medical care in Dubai can avail of three-month, twice-extendable visas, he stated.

DHA is also working with government bodies concerned to offer tourist packages and visas as part of the medical tourism strategy, said Dr Al Zubaidy.

According to him, the public and private healthcare facilities and government departments were working together to facilitate entry and best-in-class treatment in a range of medical specialties for patients from across the world, particularly from the GCC, South Asia and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries.

Dubai has over 22 hospitals, including CSH, accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI), the world's leading accreditor of hospitals. CSH, first accredited in 2011, was recently reaccredited by JCI on completion of the first three-year term.

"Hospitals in Dubai are competing with the best in the world in providing comprehensive primary-to-tertiary level care," said Dr Al Zubaidy.

"All these facilities have a multinational workforce, including experienced doctors from internationally renowned centres of excellence. More importantly, there is a growing focus on patient safety, quality, excellence and transparency," he added.

CSH, he stated, was already receiving a significant number of patients every month from Eastern Europe, Africa and GCC.

"The orthopaedic and sports medicine, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, dental procedures, dermatology, preventive medicine and skin care are the areas in which Dubai can provide competitive and cost-effective treatment options to patients from abroad," he added.-TradeArabia News Service