The Middle East Health

While all Omanis are entitled to free health services, there has been an increasing move towards private health care, with both foreign and local care providers entering the market. The most recent entrant to the sector is the Saudi-based Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group, which announced on November 18 it would be investing $259m to establish 13 hospitals and medical centres across the Sultanate over the next few years.

Seeking to reduce the incidence of diabetes and lower the costs affiliated with its treatment, Qatar is stepping up efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles via education and informational campaigns that focus on proper diet and nutrition. The growth of private health care centres and the imminent arrival of mandatory health insurance should also play a part in stemming the disease’s growth.

The Kingdom is launching a massive health care sector spending programme, a priority in a country where population growth, increasing numbers of religious tourists and a rise in lifestyle-associated illnesses are putting pressure on existing medical infrastructure.

The Sultanate’s health sector continues to develop, with more hospitals being recognised for providing high quality of care and plans for a new health endowment programme under discussion.

The health care sector in Jordan is poised to benefit from two recent agreements promising to increase the number of medical tourists visiting the country’s hospitals, which offer some of the highest quality services in the region.

As the first emirate to introduce a compulsory medical insurance scheme for expatriate workers in 2006, Abu Dhabi has long been a leader in the health care sector. Since then, the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has continued to implement changes to improve the health insurance system.