International Patients Need More Than Treatment
Patients who travel for care judge a hospital on far more than the treatment. Visas, travel, language, family and follow-up at home decide whether the journey felt safe.
Dubai and the wider Gulf have made medical travel a national priority, and the region now receives patients from across Africa, Central Asia, Europe and the wider Middle East. I have worked with international patients for most of my career, from medical evacuation and assistance services early on to building international patient programmes in hospitals. One lesson has stayed constant: the clinical treatment is often the part patients worry about least.
Why this matters
A patient travelling for treatment arrives anxious, often unwell, sometimes alone, in a country with a different language and different rules. Their family is either with them, and needs looking after too, or at home, and needs to be kept informed. Their doctor at home will need to continue their care afterwards. Any failure in that chain is experienced as a failure of the hospital, however good the operation.
For hospitals and health systems competing for medical travellers, this is where reputations are made. Patients recommend a destination when the whole journey felt managed.
What I have seen work
Plan the non-medical journey before the patient arrives. Visas, flights, airport transfer, accommodation for family, and an estimate of length of stay and cost should be clear before travel. Anxiety is lowest when nothing is a surprise.
One named coordinator. International patients should have one person who knows their case and answers their messages, in their language where possible, from first enquiry to return home.
Respect cultural expectations. Patients from different regions have different expectations about family involvement in decisions, gender of carers, food and religious practice. My own experience on panels about cultural differences in assistance and healthcare has reinforced how often small misunderstandings become complaints.
Close the loop at home. A clear discharge summary, sent to the patient's own doctor, and a follow-up plan they can actually follow at home. Continuity does not end at the airport.
Work with insurers and assistance companies as partners. Many international patients come through them. Clear communication with these partners protects the patient and the hospital.
Questions for boards and leadership teams
- Who in our hospital owns the international patient's journey from first enquiry to follow-up at home?
- Do we measure the experience of international patients and their families separately?
- How do we hand care back to the patient's own doctor, and how do we know it worked?
For a patient far from home, safety is not only clinical. It is knowing that someone is managing everything around the treatment.
Related: ITIC MENA panel on cultural differences in assistance and healthcare, reported by ITIJ (see Media).
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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