Since 1971, the UAE’s health sector has witnessed numerous milestones and significant achievements, in line with renewed health challenges.

The UAE ranks first globally in terms of number of accredited health establishments, of which 85 percent have obtained global accreditation, as per Joint Commission International, JCI, reports.

According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, the UAE ranks first in the Middle East in 19 indexes related to addressing public health risks.

The health sector is among the fastest-growing in the country, with investments expected to rise by over 300 percent in the next decade and the number of hospital beds in the country expected to reach 14,000 by the end of 2020, compared to 8,000 at the end of 2010.

Studies point out that the value of the UAE’s healthcare market amounts to AED71.56 billion, including hospitals outpatient clinics and health facilities worth around AED44.4 billion, and the internal departments of hospitals worth AED 27.5 billion.

The National Agenda of the UAE Vision 2021 aims to create a health system in line with the highest international standards, as well as promoting prevention and reduce rates of cancer and diseases related to lifestyle, such as diabetes and heart disease.

It also aims to discourage smoking and improve the readiness of the health system to address epidemics and health emergencies.

The UAE has become among the leading health tourism destinations in the world, due to the growing international trust in its health sector. Treatment tourism sales in the UAE amounted to AED12.1 billion in 2018, a growth of 5.5 percent compared to 2017. This figure is expected to increase to AED19.5 billion by 2023.

The UAE has launched many initiatives to attract health treatment tourism. For example, the Dubai Health Authority, DHA, established the Dubai Health Experience, DXH, a health tourism e-portal that aims to provide high-quality medical services alongside of an unparalleled holiday experience in the emirate, and in 2018, the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi and the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi launched the Abu Dhabi Medical Tourism e-portal, which provides a list of 40 healthcare facilities that are included in the medical tourism network.

In November 2015, the UAE launched an innovation fund worth AED2 billion to generate innovative ideas, managed by the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with national financing authorities.

The Ministry of Health and Community Prevention also adopted a comprehensive plan to fully integrate artificial intelligence, AI, into medical services, in implementation of the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, as well as achieve the total use of data analysis by 2021, in line with the UAE Centennial 2071, to improve healthcare services provided to patients.

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