logo
Marhaba partners with PRIME Health to provide world-class travel services for Dubai's medical tourists

Marhaba partners with PRIME Health to provide world-class travel services for Dubai's medical tourists

Zawya09-06-2025
Dubai, UAE – marhaba, part of dnata and a leading global airport hospitality brand, has partnered with PRIME Health to provide premium travel services for passengers arriving in Dubai for medical treatment.
Driven by a commitment to patient well-being, the partnership ensures a smooth and stress-free travel experience that complements the quality of care provided by PRIME Health.
marhaba will provide its full airport hospitality offering to support medical travellers, including its signature Meet & Greet, Chauffeur and Lounge services. In addition, its recently announced Check-in Anywhere and Land & Leave solutions will further enhance the journey, enabling a smooth, hands-free experience from arrival to departure.
Jaffar Dawood, dnata's Divisional Senior Vice President - UAE Airport Operations, said: 'We are pleased to partner with PRIME Health to further enhance the medical tourism experience in Dubai. With marhaba's personalised service and Arabian hospitality, twinned with Dubai's world-class infrastructure, we ensure medical travellers feel looked after from the moment they land. This partnership reflects our shared focus on care, comfort and service excellence.'
Dr. Jamil Ahmed, Founder and Managing Director, PRIME Health, said: 'At PRIME Health, we believe exceptional care starts well before a patient enters the hospital. Our partnership with marhaba ensures international patients receive a warm, stress-free welcome the moment they land. By combining world-class hospitality with trusted medical expertise, we are redefining the healthcare journey making it as seamless and supportive as possible from arrival to recovery.'
Dubai welcomed over 691,000 people for medical treatments in 2023, with spending on healthcare services exceeding AED 1.03 billion (US$ 280 million). The emirate is rapidly positioning itself as a leading global destination for medical tourism, combining advanced healthcare with world-class luxury and personalised care.
According to PRIME Health, international patient flows to Dubai have grown across diverse medical specialisms, with dentistry, dermatology, cardiology, and fertility treatments leading demand. Medical tourists increasingly seek Dubai's orthopaedic treatments, particularly joint replacement surgeries, and the city's range of the latest cosmetic treatments also remain popular with visitors.
As part of its growing network, PRIME Health also operates medical centres within terminals one and three at Dubai International airport (DXB), providing convenient access to high-quality care for travellers.
marhaba, which means 'welcome' in Arabic, was launched in the UAE to help passengers arriving in or departing from Dubai International airport. The popularity of meet & greet services has grown exponentially in line with Dubai's growth as a major international travel hub, and marhaba has continually expanded its product offering with a growing list of services and extra options designed to make the passenger airport experience as comfortable as possible.
The marhaba brand is part of dnata, one of the world's largest air services providers. A trusted partner of over 300 airline customers, dnata offers ground handling, cargo, travel catering & retail services in over 30 countries across six continents.
Contact
marhaba Public Relations
public.relations@dnata.com
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

In the fight against obesity and diabetes, the UAE's new sugar tax policy could be a handy arrow in its quiver
In the fight against obesity and diabetes, the UAE's new sugar tax policy could be a handy arrow in its quiver

The National

timean hour ago

  • The National

In the fight against obesity and diabetes, the UAE's new sugar tax policy could be a handy arrow in its quiver

The UAE's decision to switch from a fixed tax on sugary drinks to one that depends on the sugar content per 100 millilitres is a positive step in the fight against obesity and diabetes. Embedding such interventions in holistic approaches to public health is equally important, as humans will always struggle with the innate attractiveness of carbohydrates. While there are a number of ways to induce changes in people's behaviour, economists will invariably suggest using prices. In the case of convincing people to consume less sugar, that means applying a tax that makes sugar-laden commodities more expensive to purchase, also known as a 'sin tax'. This straightforward principle can be applied in different ways. The nation's leadership has long been using a holistic strategy to address the complex problems associated with poor health choices The most straightforward is applying a tax to goods that have high sugar content, which is the approach that the UAE has taken – and many other countries took in the past. The key advantage of this approach is administrative simplicity: authorities need only to determine whether a good is subject to the tax, and then to apply it. One of the most salient applications of this method is cigarettes, which cost consumers a lot more to buy than the production cost due to steep excise duties that governments around the world levy. One of the potential drawbacks to this approach, however, is that it creates an incentive for producers to redefine what constitutes a unit of the good to minimise the tax's impact. This dynamic is illustrated by the 18th-century stamp duty that the British government imposed on newspapers based on the number of pages in an issue. Editors responded by increasing the size of each page and cutting down the number of pages, spawning what is now referred to as the unwieldy 'broadsheet' newspaper. In the context of modern sugary drinks, the analogous process is producers increasing the volume of sugar in drinks either by upping the concentration or simply filling the container with more liquid. Thus, while the tax does make some people less likely to purchase sugary drinks, those who continue to purchase them may end up consuming more sugar than they would have done absent the tax. The result is a muted and potentially indeterminate net effect on the societal consumption of sugar. Governments are aware of this possibility, and some – such as Mexico and the UK – have responded by applying a tax that depends proportionately on the volume of sugar supplied in a unit of the good, rather than the binary (on-off) form that can motivate producers to increase sugar concentrations. This closing of the loophole follows in the footsteps of the highly successful application to petrol. In the earlier part of the 20th century, vehicles were taxed at a flat rate. This created an incentive to purchase bigger cars, and did not dissuade people from driving more since the tax would be paid whether the car stood stationary in your driveway or travelled 100,000 kilometres a year. Once states transitioned towards taxing petrol proportionately, drivers now had an incentive to buy smaller cars, and to use their cars less, switching to walking, cycling and availing of public transport to economise on travel expenditure. This can clearly be seen when comparing the large cars that people own and operate in a low fuel tax environment with the petite ones seen in high fuel tax countries. The UAE is aiming for something analogous to occur in the case of sugary drinks. One of the associated challenges will be administrative: measuring sugar content precisely and ensuring that producers do not fraudulently report the figure require significant resources, and reflect one of the reasons why some governments continue to prefer the flat taxes. The more serious challenge that policymakers are likely to face is that the consumption of sugary drinks makes a small contribution at best to the adverse societal outcomes they are looking to abate – obesity, diabetes, heart disease and so on. After all, several other dietary factors also play a role, as do lifestyle ones such as exercise and sleep patterns. Yet, this is a step in the right direction towards addressing some of the critical public health challenges of our time. And so, the UAE government is correct in its decision to avoid the 'drop in the bucket' fallacy, whereby people defeatedly avoid taking small steps because they believe that the impact will be negligible, even though big results are typically built on accumulated micro efforts. The nation's leadership has long been using a holistic strategy to address the complex problems associated with poor health choices, and there is no doubt that every little helps, including this sugar tax.

Clinics shut down and aid warehouse raided as Israel intensifies attacks on Deir Al Balah
Clinics shut down and aid warehouse raided as Israel intensifies attacks on Deir Al Balah

The National

time2 hours ago

  • The National

Clinics shut down and aid warehouse raided as Israel intensifies attacks on Deir Al Balah

A British charity has accused Israel of 'accelerating the systemic dismantling' of Gaza 's healthcare system after its clinic in Deir Al Balah was forced to close as Israel widens its military offensive. Medical Aid for Palestinians' staff were given only six hours to evacuate by the Israelis, according to Liz Allcock, the charity's head of humanitarian protection. Shelling is now taking place around the premises. 'Nine clinics, five shelters, and a vital community kitchen have been forced to shut down,' the group said. The facilities affected include a polyclinic that provides life-saving help along with physiotherapy and mental health services to an average of 320 patients a day. The closure comes after the Israeli army launched ground operations in Deir Al Balah, an area of central Gaza it had not entered since the Gaza war began. Deir Al Balah plays host to most of the UN and international aid agencies operating in the enclave. It was previously designated a safe zone by Israel. The clearance of the area means 88 per cent of Gaza is now under some sort of eviction order by Israel. A World Health Organisation (WHO) aid warehouse also fell victim to the Israeli military operation on Monday night when it was raided by Israeli forces. Male staff and family members were 'handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint', the WHO said in a statement. One staff member is still in detention. The warehouse was also sheltering displaced civilians. Women and children were told to move south towards Al Mawasi, where Israel's defence minister has announced plans for a camp to house 600,000 Palestinians. The living quarters of the staff were attacked three times, while air strikes caused fires and extensive damage to the warehouse, the WHO said. 'The Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot towards Al Mawasi amid active conflict,' it added. The WHO called the episode 'part of a pattern of systemic destruction of health facilities'. Israel has sought to shift aid operations in Gaza away from the UN and other established humanitarian groups by launching the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israel-backed group. But the GHF's operations have been marred by deaths near its aid sites, with the Israeli military accused of repeatedly opening fire on Palestinian civilians seeking supplies. More than 1,000 people have been killed since the end of May while seeking food from the GHF, the UN says. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen, with reports of children starving to death. Essential workers are fainting on duty due to hunger, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday. The threat of air strikes was adding to the danger, added Ms Allcock. 'You cannot deliver medicine, water or nutritional supplements while under attack, or drive ambulances on streets with ground troops,' she said. But many workers were carrying on regardless, she added. 'People are telling us they'd rather die from bombing than slowly through starvation.'

Children starve to death in Gaza as doctors faint from hunger amid Israeli aid blockade
Children starve to death in Gaza as doctors faint from hunger amid Israeli aid blockade

The National

time5 hours ago

  • The National

Children starve to death in Gaza as doctors faint from hunger amid Israeli aid blockade

At least 21 children died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza over the past three days, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday, as the UN warned of doctors fainting on duty due to hunger and exhaustion amid the Israeli aid blockade. The head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency said its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were collapsing while working due to feeling hungry and being exhausted. UNRWA said it had received dozens of emergency messages from its staff describing dire conditions in the enclave. Starvation is on the rise in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's constant bombardment and blockade on aid supplies. Western countries have condemned Israel's 'drip feeding of aid' and have called the Israeli aid delivery model dangerous. More than 1,000 aid seekers have been killed. Speaking during a press conference late on Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric renewed his urgent call for the safe and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He highlighted the increasing number of malnourished people arriving at medical centres in critical condition. 'Amid the bombing, displacement and destruction in Gaza, we continue to receive alarming reports of individuals suffering from severe malnutrition arriving at medical facilities and hospitals in extremely poor health conditions,' Mr Dujarric said. Inside Gaza's largest hospital, Al Shifa, workers are reaching their breaking point. Ziad Abo Hmidan, 47, head of the hospital's maintenance department, said his colleagues were fainting at work. 'There are around 50 employees working around the clock to keep the hospital running,' Mr Abo Hmidan told The National. 'We move constantly between departments to keep the equipment operating, but we have no food to give us the energy to do this work. The quality of our services is starting to suffer.' He said medical staff were finding it increasingly difficult to report to work because they feel too weak or are out searching for food for their families. 'This is putting patients' lives at risk,' he warned. In the Emergency Department, Dr Ahmad Abed Al Wahed, 30, said recent days have been the most difficult since the start of the war. 'We have gone up to 30 hours without a single meal. Doctors need energy to treat the injured, but we are exhausted,' he lamented. 'Now we're not just treating war injuries, but also rising numbers of malnutrition cases. 'I worry constantly about my own family,' he added, 'how they will find food, while I'm here trying to save others.' UN agencies operating on the ground have warned that the territory has become nearly uninhabitable. More than two million people are now facing the threat of famine due to prolonged conflict and the near-total blockade of aid. 'No one is spared: caretakers in Gaza are also in need of care. Doctors, nurses, journalists and humanitarians are hungry,' UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. 'Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties: reporting atrocities or alleviating some of the suffering.' On Monday a staff association at news agency AFP sounded the alarm, urging "immediate intervention" to help reporters working with the agency in Gaza. Ahmad Harb, 44, a journalist with Al Kofia Channel, said Gaza's residents are suffering from two types of war – the one with weapons and the slow death from starvation. 'Despite our fatigue, we continue to report so the world hears the voices of the people,' Mr Harb said. 'But over the past three days, food shortages have worsened. I spend hours just trying to find something to feed my children.' He described an unbearable internal conflict, balancing his duty to report with the desperate need to care for his family. 'Some of our colleagues have collapsed while working,' he said. 'Still, we are committed to telling the world what is happening here.' As conditions rapidly deteriorate, the voices of Gaza's professionals – from doctors and engineers to journalists – echo a unified plea: for the war to end, for humanitarian aid to be allowed in, and for essentials, especially food, to be delivered immediately. The health system and the civilian population are facing an unprecedented crisis after more than 21 months of war. 'I am overwhelmed with worry about my own family, how they will find food, while I'm here trying to save others from dying, we urgently need the war to stop, and we need humanitarian aid to reach the people. We also need food ourselves so we can continue to do our jobs and care for those in critical need,' Dr Al Wahed said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store