Diabetes Is an Employer's Problem Too
In much of the Gulf, employers fund healthcare through mandatory insurance. That makes chronic disease such as diabetes as much their problem as the hospital's, and partnership the best answer.
Modern life in the Gulf brings great comfort and, with it, a heavy burden of lifestyle-related disease. Diabetes is the clearest example. The Middle East and North Africa has one of the highest rates in the world, and in several GCC countries close to one adult in five lives with the condition. Its complications, including kidney failure, heart disease and amputation, fill hospital beds for decades.
Why this matters
In the UAE, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region, employers pay for much of their employees' healthcare through mandatory health insurance. They pay twice for diabetes: once in insurance premiums and claims, and again in absence, reduced productivity and early retirement. Evidence from other markets shows that the cost of caring for employees with diabetes rises much faster than for others.
Hospitals see the end of that story: the emergency admission, the dialysis, the amputation. Neither side can solve it alone.
What partnership between employers and providers looks like
Early detection at work. Regular screening for diabetes and pre-diabetes, offered where employees are, not only in clinics.
Healthier workplaces. Better food options in canteens, opportunities for physical activity and working patterns that make healthy choices possible.
Coverage that pays for prevention. Insurance plans that cover medication, monitoring and education for employees with diabetes fully, because the cost of preventing complications is far lower than the cost of treating them.
Support between visits. Health coaching, digital tools and remote monitoring that help employees manage their condition day to day, linked to their care team.
Shared data, shared goals. Employers and providers agreeing on outcomes, such as the share of employees with well-controlled blood sugar, and reviewing them together.
Questions for boards and leadership teams
For employers
- Do we know how many of our employees have diabetes or are at risk, and what it costs us?
- Does our insurance plan make it easy for them to manage their condition well?
For hospitals
- Which employers in our community could we partner with on prevention rather than waiting for their employees to arrive as admissions?
Healthier communities start at work. Employers and hospitals need to meet long before the emergency department.
Dr Fatih Mehmet Gul is a physician and healthcare executive who has built, commissioned and led hospitals across the Gulf and Türkiye. He is an Honorary Professor at UCL Global Business School for Health, author of Connected Care, and host of The Chief Healthcare Officer podcast.
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