22-Aug-2008
The government in Dubai is preparing the nation for an influx of medical tourists, it has been revealed.
According to Nasser Khalifa Al-Budoor, the assistant undersecretary for international relations and health affairs, the Dubai Ministry of Health is in the process of developing the necessary infrastructure to attract and accommodate people who want to seek medical treatment abroad.
"We'll be ready to start receiving medical tourists coming here with their families, whether for plastic surgeries, knee replacements or treatment of cardiovascular diseases," Mr Al-Budoor revealed.
The official claimed that Dubai has hospitals of a similar calibre to Johns Hopkins in the US and said that, while Dubai may not traditionally have been a medical tourism destination of choice, the situation in the Middle East has changed.
"People would go to London for shopping with their families and undergo a check up or a small operation. Now, Dubai is ready for this," he claimed, adding that the emirate has "so much to offer".