Sheikh Mohammed cancels 20% copay on private treatment for Thiqa holders

ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on Wednesday ordered that a 20 per cent fee for Emiratis having private medical treatment be scrapped.

Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, announced the waiver at Burjeel Hospital.

He also ordered a specialist medical college and a healthcare city to be established to strengthen the emirate as a destination for medical tourism and services.

When the 20 per cent co-pay was revealed in June last year, Emiratis in long-term care expressed surprise.

The fee was waived in January for three long-term care centres in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, which said they would take losses worth millions of dirhams after refusing to discharge patients who could not afford to pay.

Mohammed Al Hammadi, chief executive of United Eastern Medical Services, said yesterday’s announcement showed the leadership’s support for private health.

“It also gives patients a wider choice of healthcare providers and additional access to different service lines and healthcare facilities,” Mr Al Hammadi said.

His company includes Danat Al Emarat Hospital and HealthPlus Network of Specialty Centres.

Mr Al Hammadi said that after the waiver, United would invest Dh500 million in the second phase of Danat Al Emarat’s expansion, which will include 90 beds and new services, and new centres under HealthPlus Network.

Shamsheer Vayalil, chairman and managing director of VPS Healthcare, which runs Burjeel Hospital, said the move will “create more opportunities to provide innovative healthcare services”.

He said the company was “humbled” by Sheikh Mohammed’s visit on Wednesday morning, where he inspected the facilities and met patients to inquire about their well being.

Emiratis expressed relief at the news. Reem Saif’s son, 5, is autistic and was born with a hole in his heart and narrow trachea.

Ms Saif, 36, was provided with a nurse to help with her newborn, but when the fee came in she had to pay Dh40,000 a month.

“I had to let go of the nurse and get a maid to help me,” she said.

The maid had no medical experience and was not fit to care for a sick child, Ms Saif said. But after yesterday’s announcement, she said she would again hire a nurse.

“I always knew that our government would not do this to us, especially those who are in need.”

Salem Obaid found out in February that he had prostate cancer.

“I immediately chose to have the surgery in a hospital in the private sector and not the Government,” said Mr Obaid, 65. “I knew I had to pay 20 per cent, but my health was more important.”

The surgeon who performed his operation had worked at a government hospital before moving to the private sector.

“He was well known and I trusted him more than the doctors in the government sector,” Mr Obaid said.

He had his operation a week after being diagnosed and had to pay more than Dh20,000, which included hospital stay and follow-up care.

“My children help to pay for the surgery but many others who are my age and older don’t have children to support them and live off their pension,” he said. “As Emiratis we realise that there was a lot of abuse happening when we had complete coverage.

“People would go to the hospital for the silliest reasons, and the copay helped limit them, but it was very hard for people like me and others who had no other option than to go to the private sector.”

Emirati Ahmed Abdulla welcomed the decision, particularly because there are few government hospitals offering 24-hour care in rural areas and on the outskirts of the capital.

Mr Abdulla, who lives in Khalifa City A, said he had to rush his mother-in-law, 70, to a nearby private hospital during an emergency.

“There was nowhere near by for me to take her, and my mother-in-law is divorced and lives off the money she receives from social support,” he said.

Meanwhile, at yesterday’s visit, Sheikh Mohammed was also updated on the progress for Burjeel Medical City, a Dh1.2 billion hospital that will open next year and offer cancer treatment, advanced imaging, an emergency department and a rehabilitation centre.

salnuwais@thenational.ae

Forced%20Deportations

%3Cp%3EWhile%20the%20Lebanese%20government%20has%20deported%20a%20number%20of%20refugees%20back%20to%20Syria%20since%202011%2C%20the%20latest%20round%20is%20the%20first%20en-mass%20campaign%20of%20its%20kind%2C%20say%20the%20Access%20Center%20for%20Human%20Rights%2C%20a%20non-governmental%20organization%20which%20monitors%20the%20conditions%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20in%20Lebanon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%9CIn%20the%20past%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20General%20Security%20was%20responsible%20for%20the%20forced%20deportation%20operations%20of%20refugees%2C%20after%20forcing%20them%20to%20sign%20papers%20stating%20that%20they%20wished%20to%20return%20to%20Syria%20of%20their%20own%20free%20will.%20Now%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20army%2C%20specifically%20military%20intelligence%2C%20is%20responsible%20for%20the%20security%20operation%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Mohammad%20Hasan%2C%20head%20of%20ACHR.%3Cbr%3EIn%20just%20the%20first%20four%20months%20of%202023%20the%20number%20of%20forced%20deportations%20is%20nearly%20double%20that%20of%20the%20entirety%20of%202022.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ESince%20the%20beginning%20of%202023%2C%20ACHR%20has%20reported%20407%20forced%20deportations%20%E2%80%93%20200%20of%20which%20occurred%20in%20April%20alone.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIn%20comparison%2C%20just%20154%20people%20were%20forcfully%20deported%20in%202022.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Violence%20

%3Cp%3EInstances%20of%20violence%20against%20Syrian%20refugees%20are%20not%20uncommon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EJust%20last%20month%2C%20security%20camera%20footage%20of%20men%20violently%20attacking%20and%20stabbing%20an%20employee%20at%20a%20mini-market%20went%20viral.%20The%20store%E2%80%99s%20employees%20had%20engaged%20in%20a%20verbal%20altercation%20with%20the%20men%20who%20had%20come%20to%20enforce%20an%20order%20to%20shutter%20shops%2C%20following%20the%20announcement%20of%20a%20municipal%20curfew%20for%20Syrian%20refugees.%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CThey%20thought%20they%20were%20Syrian%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20the%20mayor%20of%20the%20Nahr%20el%20Bared%20municipality%2C%20Charbel%20Bou%20Raad%2C%20of%20the%20attackers.%3Cbr%3EIt%20later%20emerged%20the%20beaten%20employees%20were%20Lebanese.%20But%20the%20video%20was%20an%20exemplary%20instance%20of%20violence%20at%20a%20time%20when%20anti-Syrian%20rhetoric%20is%20particularly%20heated%20as%20Lebanese%20politicians%20call%20for%20the%20return%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20to%20Syria.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES

All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated

Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid

Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The%20specs

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