Regulatory framework and guidance is need of the hour for telehealth in UAE

• .Covid-19 has acted as an accelerator and telehealth is now truly emerging and being adopted by leading healthcare providers in the UAE.
• Benefits of telehealth such as convenience, safety and cost will continue to be recognised even after post pandemic.

Dubai: Telehealth in the UAE should be further supported by a robust regulatory framework and guidance akin to the traditional healthcare delivery model, industry experts said.

The successful utilisation of telehealth during the lockdown has provided an alternate medium of healthcare services delivery.

Covid-19 has acted as an accelerator where now telehealth, teleradiology and online pharmacy retail are now truly emerging and being adopted by leading healthcare providers in the UAE.

“Telehealth has been embraced during this crisis situation and it is a great tool to build the rapport between patients and healthcare professionals in various fields to ensure the right quality of services towards the patients,” Dr. Ibtesam Al Bastaki, Director of Health Investment and Partnership at Dubai Health Authority, said.

Shehzad Jamal, Partner, Head of Healthcare and Education at Knight Frank Middle East, said that it is important to take stock of the lessons learned from this pandemic, where it will be critical to revisit the current strategy of healthcare provision by both the public and private sectors to factor in operational readiness and allow temporary expansion of the workforce and infrastructure as and when required.

UAE’s healthcare sector, in bid to become a medical tourism destination, has undergone a considerable number of infrastructure and procedural changes in order to position itself as a leading healthcare provider and the UAE has been recognised as being one of the safest locations in the world in the fight against Covid-19.

Investors take a look at funding

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has also raised many questions as to the future structure of the healthcare sector both in the UAE and globally.

Jamal said that 2020 has brought with it an unprecedented challenge in the form of Covid-19, challenging global healthcare systems in terms of infrastructure, mode of delivery, financing and much more.

However, he said that it has also allowed countries across the globe to carefully examine the infrastructure gaps, consider alternative mediums such as telehealth, and has led to conventional investors to take a closer look at funding this sector.

Economic fallout

With the global economy stalling, he said that many firms have reacted by reducing headcount, furloughing staff, decreasing remuneration packages or a combination of the three.

In a few countries including the UAE, this reduction in employment will have a notable impact on their respective private healthcare sectors.

Given the scale of the economic fallout anticipated in the UAE, the total population is expected to decline for the first time in five decades by about 10 per cent this year. Initial forecasts indicate that employment will contract by 7.8 per cent in 2020 and is not expected to return to its 2019 level before 2022.

“As a result of this decline in population, we expect that there will be a proportional decline in patient volumes and have a trickle-down effect within the healthcare value chain. The lockdown and the ensuing breakdown of social norms has led to an increase in requirements and utilisation of certain healthcare services such as preventive care, home healthcare and psychological,” Jamal said.

With the wider acceptance of telehealth by insurance providers, Dr. Gireesh Kumar, Senior Manager for Healthcare and Education at Knight Frank Middle East, said that this service line is expected to experience greater demand going forward.

 “Telehealth is here to stay. We saw the take-up in the region during Covid-19. The benefits of telehealth such as convenience, safety and cost will continue to be recognised even after post pandemic,” Joe Hawayek, Senior Director at vHealth (MEA), said.

Although telehealth has its own set of limitations, he said that patients now have first-hand experience of the convenience it offers and it seems that it will be an important medium for delivering care if supported by adequate regulations.