Medical insurance insurance policies within the GCC don’t cowl reconstructive surgical procedure, which many imagine is a medical crucial that ought to not fall beneath the identical class as aesthetic or beauty surgical procedure. The lack of acknowledgement of this notion is dangerous.
Take mastectomy as an illustration, a surgical process that includes eradicating breast tissue to deal with or forestall breast most cancers. A mastectomy should not be thought-about ‘medically complete’ if breast tissue has not been restored, granting the feminine most cancers affected person roughly the identical bodily form she had previous to the breast most cancers surgical procedure.
The outcomes of such a life-saving surgical procedure have a physiological and psychological influence on feminine lives. Given the restorative nature of the process, it’s flawed to categorize it as cosmetic surgery. Instead, it should be seen as a part of the medical course of remedy and a vital therapeutic apply for affected person restoration.
Such reconstructive surgical procedures are indispensable for safeguarding psychological well being by restoring the pure type of the girl’s physique, which is her birthright.
Boosting morale will not be beauty
Examples of reconstructive procedures that usually fall beneath medical insurance protection in different areas embrace Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery (SEIA) and Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator (DIEP) flaps. SEIA and DIEP are cutting-edge breast reconstruction procedures that use a lady’s personal tissue to create new breasts after a mastectomy.
These surgical procedures are identified to offer feminine most cancers sufferers self-confidence. The procedures hand ladies again what most cancers had taken away from them.
Some sufferers have reported larger ranges of confidence and luxury with their our bodies following these surgical procedures than they’d previous to their prognosis. Feeling uncomfortable in your personal pores and skin after you’ve crushed dying is certainly an space requiring medical consideration. Having a optimistic physique picture of oneself is a precursor to creating and sustaining a state of bodily and psychological wellbeing.
Six years in the past, I carried out a DIEP flap on a affected person, who went on to pursue a profession in sports activities.
Growing burden of psychological well being on nations
Beyond the unfavourable influence on sufferers themselves, the absence of insurance protection for reconstructive surgical procedure forces nations to hold the total weight of populations’ psychological well being. The long-term psychological well being price on governments far outweighs the medical insurance price of needed reconstructive surgical procedure by insurance firms.
A PwC Middle East research revealed that untreated psychological sickness within the GCC ends in the lack of at the least 37.5 million productive hours a yr, dealing a mighty blow of as much as $3.5 billion to the regional economy. About 15 per cent of the GCC’s inhabitants grapple with psychological well being points in any given yr. Excluding reconstructive surgical procedure from medical insurance insurance policies might have an effect on psychological well being, and subsequently provides gas to the flames.
Geo-economic influence
With distant work on the rise, the dearth of medical cowl for reconstructive procedures is doubtlessly leading to hidden financial disadvantages for the GCC. The want for ‘reconstructive insurance’ advantages might push folks to stay exterior the area the place they’ll work remotely for a sure GCC nation, opposite to the goals of GCC governments to draw and retain expertise inside their borders.
According to a report by Lancet Commission, about 12 billion working days are misplaced attributable to psychological sickness yearly. This pattern will price the worldwide economy $16 trillion by 2030.
Immediate motion
Instead of addressing psychological well being issues by means of reactive remedy, a proactive strategy by means of prevention has by no means been extra vital. Due to the associated fee implications, most mastectomy sufferers don’t go for reconstructive surgical procedure and find yourself delaying their remedy. Over the years, their psychological well being begins to deteriorate. If insurance insurance policies supplied protection, most sufferers will doubtless endure reconstructive surgical procedures instantly, averting the long-term psychological well being implications for them and the nations they reside in.
Insurers’ duty
Whether or not these arguments would appear legitimate to insurance firms, giving again a way of femininity to feminine breast most cancers sufferers will not be solely a medical necessity, however a social duty too. It represents a method to give again to society.
Insurers working within the GCC can make the most of this underserved space of company citizenship by including a reconstructive surgical procedure cowl of their medical insurance insurance policies. This represents a novel type of company social duty, which may additionally give insurers a aggressive benefit within the area.
