February 4th marked World Cancer Awareness Day; people across the globe wore pink ribbons in solidarity against the disease. The UAE is no stranger to cancer – 13% of residents in Abu Dhabi alone die from this disease every year.
Treatment can often be painful and very expensive. Although a Life Insurance policy or Critical Illness Cover can help ease the financial strain faced during this time, it doesn’t guarantee you access to the best medical knowledge.
The steps you take earliest are often the most effectively in stalling or even reversing the effects of cancer. This is infinitely easier when you have the right support.
Understanding the problem
Cancer affects people worldwide, but there are trends to follow from one country to the next. Fortunately, the UAE has good healthcare for the majority of its residents, meaning it has a lower mortality rate than developing nations. Yet the rate of incidence is high i.e. there are more diagnoses recorded than those in poorer countries.
As of 2014, 1768 new cancer patients were identified in Abu Dhabi; over 75% of which were confined to the capital. This made cancer the third-biggest killer of Emeriti citizens. It afflicts people, on average, 10 years earlier than men and women in the US or Europe.
Little has changed, apart from the global scientific community inching towards a cure, using tens of billions of dollars in donations, pledges and corporate funding to do so. Simply accepting the challenge of eliminating cancer for good is hard enough. What’s harder is actually coping with a diagnosis and the course of action that follows.
Chemotherapy and other forms of treatment can easily become the defining element of a sufferer’s life – and that of their family. Cancer often makes us unable to work, which can be particularly testing for expats and foreign nationals responsible for providing for their family and keeping up mortgage payments.
That’s why our Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover is such a valuable safety net for those individuals. It’s free to use and is readily available at your disposal alongside Life Insurance, which looks ahead to settling family debt and the like, should the worst happen. But by investing in one of our policies, you also gain access to the Best Doctors on the planet…
Putting medical care in your control
Hundreds of Brits emigrate to Dubai every year. When our customers take out a Specialist Expat Life Insurance policy with us, they have access to Best Doctors, a database of the world’s best doctors available online and over the phone whenever you need them. They can shed more light on your potential condition, keeping you informed on the best course of action for your doctor to pursue.
Since 1989, Best Doctors has grown from a thought experiment in Harvard Medical School to encompass over 53,000 trained health experts. It works by linking you to some of the most skilled doctors in the world. You make a call; they receive your patient records. Once received, a Case Manager will find an appropriate specialist who can give a second opinion, compiling a report to be shared with your assigned medical professional. It is thorough, considerate, and could potentially change how you respond to a cancer diagnosis.
This service is available for free when you sign up to one of our expat policies. Best Doctors ensures you get the best advice, so you can feel confident you’re taking steps in the right direction. With more knowledge comes a stronger range of countermeasures; that’s almost invaluable when seeking to protect yourself in another country, where diseases are dealt with in their own way.
Contact us today for a measure of foresight that you won’t find anywhere else in the UK/UAE expat community.
