Switzerland turns into hot healthcare destination for Gulf visitors

Switzerland, particularly Geneva, is becoming an increasingly popular healthcare destination for Gulf visitors not only for the high-quality medical services that hospitals provide but also due to the wholesome attractions and flight connectivity, according to a Hôpital de La Tour official.Geneva, renowned for its scenic view of Lake Geneva and Mont-Blanc, offers visitors a unique and relaxing experience, and one-of-its-kind hospitality, in addition to an array of shopping selections.“Switzerland is known for the quality of care and personalised services for decades. Actually, Swiss healthcare ranks top in the 2021 World Index of Healthcare Innovation with a 65.15 score ahead of the Netherlands and Germany. Its medical facilities offer high-quality care and have world-class infrastructure, attracting patients from various parts of the world,” Hôpital de La Tour’s CFO and International Development head Mehdi Bensouda told Gulf Times during his recent visit to Doha.He said the medical facility developed a unique Value Based Healthcare framework (VBHC) and it has been recognised recently as the most advanced private hospital in Europe in this area, which will transform the healthcare sector in the coming years. Besides the advanced technology used at the hospital and the multidisciplinary approach it follows, Bensouda noted that Hôpital de La Tour “also adopts a patient-centric healthcare model to make everyone feels right at home while with us”.“We understand the cultural differences between the international patients and we try our best to consider them during their healing journey. In line with this, we have recently started offering special services and amenities to Arab patients so they can enjoy the highest quality care. “These include employing nurses and care coordinators who speak Arabic, offering translation services, upscale private suites, limousine services, concierge services, making hotel reservations and more,” he said, adding that the hospital is a pioneer in VBHC in Switzerland and Europe,” he added. Bensouda said he had the chance to visit different leading healthcare providers in the Gulf countries recently and was impressed by the quality of the infrastructure and services they provide.“Our ambition is to share best practices in those areas with leading healthcare providers based in Gulf countries and also learn from those institutions by keeping in mind our vision to continuously provide the best healthcare to the patients across the world,” he said.Hôpital de La Tour, Bensouda noted, developed a unique expertise in movement therapy (sport medicine, orthopedic and physiotherapy), heart, cancer treatments, and metabolism (digestive and obesity programme).“At Hôpital de La Tour, we are strongly committed to training future generations of health care professionals in all main specialties and we can contribute to the vision that Qatar is working to achieve,” he said. He added that they currently have 11 postgraduate accredited training programmes as he encouraged medical students in Qatar who seek to deepen their knowledge of Hôpital de La Tour’s innovative training programmesSpecialties include general internal medicine, emergency medicine, family practice, cardiology, pneumology, paediatrics, neonatology, orthopaedics, sports medicine and pain management. There are also new training programmes that are constantly put in place, making La Tour the leading private teaching hospital in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.“We are open to any potential partnership (with countries like Qatar) as long it brings value to both institutions. We discussed opportunities to collaborate around training and education and research in areas where we developed centers of excellence such as in hip, shoulder and knee or TAVI, rhythmology and cardiac surgery, among others,” Bensouda said.