Attracting international medical talent to Dubai

A new medical licence under the sponsorship of Dubai Healthcare City allows visiting doctors to work at three clinical facilities for up to two years in Dubai.

Healthcare professionals can apply for the Visiting Doctor’s licence to work at clinics in Dubai Healthcare City free zone. Previously, visiting doctors could only practise temporarily in the free zone through a licence obtained by the clinical facilities.

With the new licence, physicians will be able to work for two years, and enter into a contract with a clinical facility. The licence is part of increasing efforts to attract international medical talent to Dubai.

In other medical developments, Dubai will have a large skin bank by mid-2019, a first-of-its-kind facility in the Middle East. The bank has received a Sharia clearance and will be set up within the Rashid Hospital complex, the largest trauma care hospital in the region.

The cosmetic surgery department of Rashid Hospital has initiated the bank. Patients with over 80% burns have very little chance of survival as they have no site for grafting. Dermal grafts taken from donors, especially patients of bariatric surgery can be used and provide a stronger chance of healing and survival for these patients. Donor skin grafts are also very effective in cancer patients who require extensive reconstruction.

Skin grafts will be preserved in incubators and used for patching by the burns and cosmetic surgery units and will also be used by other DHA hospitals. DHC officials are studying its feasibility, funding, staff requirement among other factors to make the project sustainable.

Skin grafting is a surgical procedure that involves removing skin from one area of the body and moving it, or transplanting it, to a different area. This surgery is done when skin is destroyed due to burns, injury, or illness.

For a more detailed analysis of the medical travel sector in Dubai, visit the UAE IMTJ Country Profile.