BERLIN, 26 July 2003 — When an Arab patient flew to Germany for medical treatment last year he arrived on his own jumbo jet filled with so many bodyguards, staff and family that he rented an entire luxury hotel floor for his month-long stay.
The man from Qatar was among the richest but hardly the only foreigner to get health care in Germany to avoid the rigors of entering the United States, where anti-terror vigilance since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks has frightened many Arabs away.
German hospitals are reporting huge increases in the number of Arab patients since 2001 — at the expense of US medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins that they compete with in the $2 billion international patient industry.
Health care officials said Arabs patients are turning to Germany because they’re fed up with hassles at US airports with customs officials. They also deplore invasive interviews and degrading background checks needed to obtain US visas.
“We’re seeing a lot more Arab patients,” said Stefan Loening, head of urology at Berlin’s Charite hospital. “There is a multitude of reasons, but Sept. 11 and the paranoia in America about security certainly has a lot to do with it.”
Loening, who worked in American hospitals for 20 years, said the level of treatment in Germany is on a par with the United States and yet the costs are often roughly one-third as high. He said the price is not the main issue for the Arabs.
“They can fly in and out of Germany without any problems and don’t have to worry that a nail clipper in their bag is going to raise eyebrows,” Loening said. “No one is going to anger them at the airport and their privacy won’t be intruded upon.”
Other officials said the trend to Germany is gaining pace as Arab patients spread the word and help refute any notion of a gap in health treatment between the United States and European countries like Germany — which was the case several decades ago.
“Germany has acquired an excellent reputation among Arabs and word is spreading fast that hospitals and doctors are first rate,” said Ozan Samtimiz, medical manager at German Health, an agency that arranges treatment for Arabs. But he said the main issue for the trend to Europe was America’s security obsession.
“When Arabs travel to the United States they’re viewed as potential terrorists,” he added. “It’s very difficult, almost impossible, for them to get US visas. These people may be ill and don’t want delays, don’t want an interrogation by customs.”
German medical centers are giving Arab patients the red-carpet treatment and borrowing some of the strategies US medical centers began perfecting in the 1990s to lure wealthy foreign patients to boost profits.
Berlin’s five-star Adlon Hotel — where many Arabs stay while recuperating from heart surgery, kidney transplants or cancer treatment — also reports booming business with Arab patients. It recently entered a partnership with the Charite.
German Health has seen its revenues triple in the last year, with 600 patients coming from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Although no comprehensive statistics are available, it appears medical centers in France, Italy and Spain, as well as in Egypt, are also beneficiaries of America’s clampdown on Arabs.
“Many are coming here, also to Italy, Germany and Spain,” said a spokesman at the Saudi Embassy in Paris. “Arabs of all different nationalities are coming to France instead of the United States. They are badly treated there at the airports. Most go to Germany, but some to France,” he said. “Before we had 10 people a year, now I deal with at least 10 a week.”
Britain had been a popular destination for Arabs and other nationalities seeking medical treatment long before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. A spokesman for the Cromwell Hospital in London said there had been no notable increase in patient traffic since then.
In Cairo, Ahmed El-Badawi, marketing manager at the Dar El-Fouad Hospital in Cairo, said the hospital was created to attract Egyptians who were considering foreign trips for treatment. “Now we are attracting other Arabs to come to us instead of going abroad,” he said. “We are attracting people from Kuwait, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Many of these people had gone to the States but are now coming to us.
