The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC), in cooperation with the National Health Insurance Company, Daman, has launched the “Traveller” programme, to provide emergency health insurance for UAE nationals abroad.
The plan provides UAE nationals with comprehensive annual medical coverage worth AED500,000 (US$136,147) per person. The service will give them access to the best medical emergency treatment and medical insurance services, while raising their awareness about travel risks, reported the Emirates News Agency.
The programme is part of the Ministry’s wish to promote the safety and wellness of its nationals when they are abroad and achieve the UAE Vision 2021.
“After an extended study over many consecutive years, statistics highlight an increasing number of UAE nationals travelling outside the country on an annual basis, who are also exposed to emergency health issues and traffic accidents. That is why we are launching this programme, to provide our nationals with comfort regarding their health while they are outside the country,” said Mr Ahmed Saeed Elham Al Dhaheri, Assistant Under-Secretary for Consular Affairs at MoFAIC.
The plan, managed by Daman, is a health insurance travel policy for UAE nationals only. The policy can be purchased during or before travel and is activated 48 hours after approval.
The service also allows registration through the internet and covers an unlimited number of trips throughout the year, on the condition that each trip does not exceed 90 days.
Health tourists to the UAE
Separately, Dubai will introduce a mandatory insurance product for health tourists to provide coverage for unseen unseen complications during or after a procedure is completed, said Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of the Health Funding Department of the Dubai Health Authority. The new policy is being finalised and will soon become mandatory for medical tourists.
“This programme has been in operation for health tourists for a while, but was optional. We are working with the Health Tourism Council to make the policy mandatory and embed it in the travel insurance required. This will improve the trust of any potential health tourist in Dubai, in the sense that if something goes wrong, they are fully covered,” Dr Al Yousuf told Gulf News.
With over 300,000 health tourists reported in 2016, Dubai is working to ensure the emirate is positioned at the forefront when it comes to medical tourism and health insurance globally.
“We have identified that health tourists require a different kind of cover – the standard cover is not going to do the job. We need to ensure the whole Dubai experience is complete, whether it is visiting Dubai for tourism or medical reasons, there shouldn’t be any gap that give a visitor a reason to be unhappy,” explained Dr Al Yousuf. M
AED1 = US$0.27