Number of Dubai healthcare facilities jump 11.5% in Q1 2023: DHA

Dubai Healthcare Authority (DHA) said it licenced a total of 143 health facilities in the first quarter of the year, bringing the total number of health facilities in the emirate to 4,609, an 11.5 per cent year-on-year increase compared to Q1 2022.

The latest data from the healthcare authority shows that Dubai is currently home to 52 hospitals, 77 specialised clinics, 58 one-day surgery centres, 82 dental clinics, 122 clinics, 1,325 pharmacies, 414 optics centres, 160 nursing homes and 57 alternative medicine centres.

Dr Marwan Al Mulla, CEO of the DHA’s Health Regulation Sector, said the growth in health facilities reflects the confidence of global investors in the growth prospects and high standards of Dubai’s healthcare sector.

These facilities provide care across a range of medical specialities and sub-specialities ranging from advanced diagnostic procedures to specialised treatments and surgical procedures.

DHA’s Health Regulation Sector received 6,500 applications for health professional licences to practice in the city in the first three months of the year. Dubai currently has 56,239 licenced healthcare professionals.

#Dubai licensed a total of 143 health facilities in the first quarter of 2023, bringing the total number of health facilities in Dubai to 4,609, an increase of 11.5% compared to the first quarter of last year. pic.twitter.com/mQZuJkVHr1

— هيئة الصحة بدبي (@DHA_Dubai) May 31, 2023

The healthcare authority expected that this number will grow by 10 to 15 per cent in 2023 and beyond.

“The dynamism of the sector reflects the growing competitiveness of Dubai’s health sector, the quality of healthcare infrastructure and legislation as well as the visionary strategy of the emirate’s leadership and its ability to overcome the impact of global challenges,” said Dr. Al Mulla.

Dubai’s sustained focus on developing its medical infrastructure and attracting large-scale investments into the sector, combined with its superior quality benchmarks and world-class regulations, has enabled it to develop a healthcare system that ranks among the best in the globe.

Dubai medical tourism

Meanwhile, the growth in the number of healthcare facilities reflects Dubai’s emergence as a global healthcare destination and a magnet for investment in the sector.

The city registered a remarkable growth in medical tourism in 2022 with 674,000 medical tourists spending $270m (Dhs992m), an increase of Dhs262m compared to a year earlier.

DHA said that 39 per cent of the medical tourists who came to the city were from Asian countries, 22 per cent from Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and 21 per cent from Arab and GCC countries.

The city ranks number one in the Middle East and North Africa and number six globally for medical tourism, according to the Medical Tourism Index. It is also ranked 5^th globally on the sub-index of quality of facilities and services.

The three specialities that saw the highest number of medical tourists in 2022 were dermatology (31 per cent), dentistry (24 per cent) and gynaecology (18 per cent).

Medical tourists from Asia, Europe and Africa, including from GCC and Arab countries visited the emirate for treatment in the fields of orthopaedics, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, fertility treatments, hospitalisation and recovery.

Read: Dubai welcomes 674,000 medical tourists in 2022