Welcare Hospital to provide cardiac care to Nigerian health tourism patients

A senior delegation of Nigerian cardiologists recently visited Welcare's world-class facilities and met with its international caliber doctors as part of a move to promote Welcare and Dubai as a high-quality alternative location for their patients to undergo surgeries, which now often are done in the United Kingdom, the United States, India and South Africa.

As the largest private hospital in the UAE to perform cardiac surgeries and the first private hospital in the country to provide total 'heart-care' solutions, Welcare is a natural choice for this initiative.

Dr. Simeon Alabii, a member of the Nigerian delegation, said, "Welcare has a well-deserved international reputation for excellent cardiac care, and so we are delighted to be speaking with them about sending our cardiac patients to this facility, which offers the latest up-to-date cardiac diagnostic, treatment and surgical facilities and is staffed by such expertly qualified doctors and technicians.

"Although Nigeria has a population of more than 120 million, there are no cardiac surgeons practicing in either the public or private sectors in the country, and so there is a regular need for interventional cardiac care to be sought abroad," he added.

"Receiving this delegation reinforces Welcare's commitment to providing holistic, evidence-based care to patients not only locally but regionally and internationally as part of our, and Dubai's, strategy to draw health tourists from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the CIS and Eastern Europe. This visit reflects the reputation that we have built among doctors and healthcare practitioners in countries well beyond the UAE," said Michael Stroud, CEO of Welcare Hospital.

Among Welcare's cardiac surgery capabilities are coronary artery bypass grafting, minimally invasive coronary artery surgery, surgery for congenital heart disease, surgery for cardiac tumors and surgery for pericardial diseases. Other services include ECG testing, chest x-rays, Holter Monitoring, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, treadmill exercise testing, Echo Doppler testing and an Intensive Cardiac Care Unit.

This initiative also reinforces the healthcare strategy of Dubai to become a regional and international "Hub" for secondary and tertiary healthcare.