Media Release
Dubai, Nov 30: The second annual medical tourism conference was held on Thursday November 26 at Thumbay Hospital, in collaboration with Gulf Medical University (GMU) Ajman- UAE, the leading private medical university in the region owned and operated by Thumbay Group. The theme of the conference was ‘destination UAE - health and medical tourism hub, partnership for collaborations’.
The chief guest of the conference, HE Shaikh Mohammed Maktoum Juma Almaktoum, chairman - MBM Groups, Dubai inaugurated the event. Thumbay Moideen, founder presdient of Thumbay Group was the special guest of the conference. The conference was accredited by Ministry of Health, UAE for 7 CME hours.
Gulf Medical University launched a unique course in medical tourism at the conference, titled 'Certificate course in medical tourism facilitator'. The course was formally launched by HE Shaikh Mohammed Maktoum Juma Almaktoum, in the presence of GMU Provost, prof Gita Ashok Raj. GMU, which has a reputation for providing programs that have been introduced in the region for the first time has added the new course to the list of unique and first-of-its-kind healthcare courses offered by it.
HE Shaikh Mohammed Maktoum Juma Almaktoum conferred special awards of honor and recognition to Julie Munro, president MTQUA, Dr Saif Al Jaibeji, CEO MEA region - United Healthcare Group, Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, director - health regulation department DHA, Linda Abdulla Ali, head of medical tourism office: health regulation department - DHA, UAE, Dr Gbenga Adetimehin managing partner and member of medical tourism and hospital projects advisory board Iheoo partners, Nigeria and T L S Iyer, general manager - SNTTA, for their valuable contributions to medical tourism.
Over 500 delegates including medical tourism experts, doctors, facilitators and insurance agencies attended the conference. The conference discussed several topics such as: strategies for sustaining outbound patients, trends and outlook of medical tourism – international standards, best practices for successful medical tourism marketing, insurance options for medical tourism business, increasing medical tourism: case studies in Thumbay Hospitals UAE and India, medical tourism education – need of the hour and a panel discussion on 'challenges and opportunities in making health and medical tourism hub -destination UAE'.
The topics were presented by Linda Abdul Ali (head of medical tourism office: health regulation department, DHA, UAE), Julie Munro (president, MTQUA), Laila Al Jassim (founder and chief executive officer, health beyond borders, Dubai), Dr Saif Al Jaibeji (CEO MEA region - United Healthcare Group), Dr Benazir Amir Ali (director – Thumbay Medical Tourism) and Dr Anil P Bankar (assistant professor, Gulf Medical University, UAE). The panel discussion which was moderated by Dr Benazir Ameer Ali and Dr Anil P Bankar had Julie Munro, Dr Saif Al Jaibeji, Dr Gbenga Adetimehin, Dr Layla Marzouqi and T L S Iyer as panelists.