Education and the UAE’s healthcare workforce

16 Jan, 2022 - BCB

As the global shortage of healthcare workers is proving to be a considerable challenge, resources in hospitals and other care providers remain strained. By 2030, it is anticipated there will be a shortfall of roughly 18 million healthcare workers. Countries facing challenges in healthcare workforce forecasting include the US, UK, China, India, Japan and the UAE.

With the UAE’s Emiratis accounting for 12% of the country’s population, the UAE finds itself in a unique position whereby 82% of physicians and 96% of nurses in the UAE are expats. The high dependency on an overseas, revolving workforce can be an issue, as many tend to gain experience and look to apply their trade further abroad. In some aspect, this could mean that knowledge and experience accrued locally is lost to a form of brain drain.

Nevertheless, the outlook is positive, as opportunities to educate and develop local medical professional within the UAE are growing, coupled with new initiative, directives and progressive immigration reforms by the UAE government to retain expats. For instance, multiple UK universities across the emirates including Birmingham Dubai, King’s College, Strathclyde, offer local and international students access to high-quality education in medicine, well-being, dentistry, pharmacy and related field.

With the UAE keen to retain healthcare professionals and talents in the country, this provides an array of opportunities for UK companies providing healthcare solutions and medical education that would tie up with the country’s leading health regulatory bodies or providers. Please contact us to know more.