The fight to remain young sees Dubai's plastic surgeons come after rich Kenyans

david nganga

July 14, 2017 11:41 AM

The number of wealthy Kenyans seeking cosmetic surgeries in Dubai has risen over the past few years

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From celebrities to the wealthy citizens, there is a reason why Kenyans have been rushing to Dubai for cosmetic surgeries.

Kenyans’ desire to enhance their beauty and lose weight has seen them flood Dubai hospitals which have plastic surgeons who have operated on the who’s who of Beverly Hills.

And it is for such reasons that Dubai officials have in the past few days visited Kenya in a bid to market the country as not only a tourist destination, but as a leading nip and tuck hub.

“We are welcoming people who are healthy and coming for health enhancement, health checkup, anti-aging treatment, clinical spa, we are putting this into one basket and we are calling it health tourism in Dubai,” said Dr Marzouqi during the second edition of Dubai tourism stakeholders’ roadshow in Nairobi.

The United Arab Emirates city has over the past year received over 55,530 Kenyan medical tourists which is a high in the African continent.

A good number of them went for cosmetic surgery, dental, bones and muscles, nerves, obesity, fertility and eye treatments.

On the other hand, wealthy Kenyans, travelled to Dubai mainly for rhinoplasty (nose surgery), face lift and hair transplants.

High costs

The treatments certainly do not come at a cheap cost with Kenyans paying as much as $1,346 for a physiotherapy session.

Even though these treatments are offered locally, the wealthy lot prefer to spend more out of the country in return for fine and high-quality services.

The shortage of plastic surgeons in Kenya and the love for privacy also forces the rich to travel abroad for cosmetic surgery and other treatments such as IVF.

And in a bid to lure more Kenyans, hospitals have facilities that match five-star hotels. They also offer desert safaris, trips to Legoland, the Global Village, sky dive Dubai among others just to make the medical trip more fun.

“You would forget you came for treatment because you would be treated like a king or queen that you are,” said Dr Sameer Kumar, a manager at Thumbay Hospital.

Even then, all patients who seek to travel aboard for plastic surgeries are urged to have all the necessary medical information for their safety.

david nganga