01-Feb-17 Malaysia is a popular destination for tourists from the Middle East, with nearly 200,000 arriving in 2016. The country is a key destination for medical tourism. In neighboring Thailand, tourism officials said the US ban could lift visitor numbers. "The Middle East is a big market for us, especially in the medical tourism sector," said Tourism Authority Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. [image: Reuters]

01-Feb-17 The Middle East region, which includes some countries that are a target of Trump's ban, is the top source of patients who travel to the US for medical care. The travel ban could prompt international patients to skip the US and take their dollars elsewhere, such as to Germany or Thailand. [image: Wikimedia Commons]

30-Jan-17 Islamic Azad University is planning to host health tourists at its 11 hospitals across the country. “Medical tourism is the most profitable and stable branch of tourism in Iran,” said Dr Seyyed Ali Abtahi, the university’s deputy for medical sciences. People from Muslim countries are attracted to Iran. [image: Financial Tribune]

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26-Jan-17 London’s King’s College Hospital (KCH) will open its first full-fledged branch outside the UK in Dubai in 2018. The 100-bed multi-speciality facility will be located at Dubai Hills, and will be built at a cost of USD200 mn. Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, director of the Dubai Medical Tourism Project, hailed the move as a major boost to Dubai’s medical tourism. [image: Kings College Hospital]

23-Jan-17  Following Dubai Health Authority’s Dubai-RoboDoc pilot phase, where RoboDocs had been placed at hospital emergency departments and 24 hour primary healthcare centres, the authority will roll out the initiative across all DHA hospitals, all health centres, as well as some home-care patients, where a nurse will visit them and dial in for tele-consultations if needed. [image: Gulf News]