Dubai, UAE – Health insurance companies are advised to include breast cancer check-ups for women and other life-saving preventive treatments in insurance plans within “six months”, as women were reported by medical experts to be avoiding early testing because of the costs involved.
“We are working on a program to treat our patients with the Dubai Health Authority but we need someone to set the example, and I believe in six months we will see more insurers take up this model,” The National quotes Dr Sherif Mahmoud, head of healthcare operations at Axa Insurance Gulf. “We need to encourage people that this is the first step. Prevention and early detection is key and insurance companies must play a role and invest more on that side.”
Breast cancer is considered one of the five most prevalent cancers in the UAE. Preventative cover can range between Dh1,000 to Dh3,000 a year and screenings between Dh500 to Dh1,000 a year. Treatment costs are however covered by insurance companies in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Currently, death rates due to breast cancer in the UAE affect 80 to 90 women out of 100,000. The government hopes to reduce that figure to 62 by 2021.
“There is no way to reach this figure except early prevention, so it’s not smart at all to continue doing the same things because you are living in an environment that is asking for something completely different,” The National quotes Dr Mahmoud’s speech at Axa Gulf’s Breast Cancer Awareness talk in Dubai on Wednesday, October 12.
Dr Mazen Al-Chihabi, vice president of healthcare at NMC Healthcare, said awareness among women in the UAE was low.
“Women should get checked from the age of 25 years old if they have high-risk factors, like obesity or if they eat a lot of junk food. In the past, it used to be later but now all international standards require an earlier check,” she was also quoted by The National.
