Dubai Health Authority celebrates 42nd UAE National Day, the Expo 2020 win: reaffirms commitment to develop and strengthen the health sector in the emirate.

Al Maidoor:  In line with the vision of our leaders, we will continue to work towards the path of development for the health sector.

Al Maidoor highlights recent achievements of Dubai Health Sector on the occasion of the 42nd UAE National Day.

From prevention to healthcare investment- Dubai Health Strategy provides 360 degrees approach to develop health and healthcare in the emirate.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, November 25, 2013:  His Excellency Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority congratulated the leaders and the people of the UAE ahead of the 42nd UAE National Day and for the Dubai Expo2020 win.

Al Maidoor reaffirmed the Authority's commitment to provide high level of quality care to the population and develop the health sector in the Emirate. He said: “In the last forty-two years, health and healthcare in the emirate has undergone a tremendous transformation, keeping pace with the rapid developments of the UAE. This has been possible because of the vision  of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council and His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai Health Authority.”

Al Maidoor highlighted that the DHA is working in line with the Dubai Health Strategy 2013-2025 which was recently drafted by the Authority keeping in mind the future needs of the health sector. He said the recent announcement of the approval of the Health Insurance Law provides a security to the population as they can be assured of access to essential health care services, in case they need it.

Moreover, the health insurance mandate will act like a catalyst the further provide an impetus for the healthcare sector by attracting investment and quality healthcare players.

He said the authority is pleased to celebrate both the Expo 2020 win and UAE National Day. He called UAE's victory a historic moment and said that the health sector is very capable to handle the medical needs and requirements of residents and visitors during Expo 2020.

Dubai Health Strategy 2013-2025: Chalking the future of healthcare in the emirate.

Talking about the pertinent Dubai Health Strategy 2013-2025, Al Maidoor said: “When we developed the health strategy 2013-2025, we kept in mind two important parameters geographical access to health services and population growth. Moreover, designing a health strategy is unique because health is about people, their lives and health is an essential component for happiness- all these factors have driven the Dubai Health Strategy 2013.”

Our strategy looks into all aspects – it's a comprehensive plan, we start with prevention and we end with investment and sustainability because we need to have strong preventative strategies to make sure we are transforming society to be as healthy as possible in their practice and way of life.”

In line with the strategy, by 2025, Dubai will have 40 new primary healthcare centres and three new hospitals. The DHA has already started implementing this plan, which is phased in three stages: immediate and short term, medium and long term.

As part of the strategy, presently the Trauma Centre is undergoing expansion using the pre-engineering concept.

Key initiatives: Elevate the role of Primary Healthcare and E-health

Al Maidoor also discussed the importance of primary healthcare and several recent initiatives that have been undertaken to better frontline care for the population of Dubai. “ In the immediate and short term, there will be several initiatives that will further elevate the role of primary healthcare centres(PHCs) since PHC's provide frontline healthcare to the population in the emirate.”

He said: “Primary healthcare centres have a lot of potential which can be enhanced to  better the care provided to patients. We recently announced that  Nad Al Hammar and Al Barsha will serve people 24 hours and these centres have been selected because of their locations and the large community around them. Moreover, these centres have an urgent care department so that people do not need to go to emergency departments in hospitals unless there is a real life-threatening emergency. We will continue to decentralize urgent care and provide more centres with 24 hours services so that we enhance the role of PHCs, which is usually the first point of medical contact for patients.”

E-initiatives: Total IT solutions the way forward.

Al Maidoor recently announced the Dubai Smart Health Model which has three components: Smart operations, Smart applications and Smart Hospitals. In the coming years, several new e-initiatives are in place that will ensure all patient files are electronic and that hospitals incorporate the smart e-health initiative

The DHA recently signed a Dh 250 million deal with Samsung SDS in collaboration with Index Holding to provide and apply a ‘smart health care application' to all medical and healthcare centres in Dubai.

The value of the project is around Dh250 million.

Al Maidoor said: “ In the coming years, Dubai Health Sector will see complete integration of e-services so that both doctors and patients have access to information on their fingertips.”

Achievements of the health sector in recent years:

Ahead of UAE's 42nd National Day, Al Maidoor spoke about the achievements of the authority in recent years.

He said: “Over the last 10 years, more than 15 hospitals that have been built. There are more than 1,500 beds under construction  at the moment, these statistics  highlight the growth potential of the sector and reconfirm investor confidence in Dubai's health sector.”

In terms of number of professionals licensed by the DHA health regulation department, Al Maidoor said, if we compare 2009 to 2012 statistics, there is an increase of 44 per cent in the number of professionals licensed and 15 per increase in the number of facilities licensed by the DHA health regulation department.

In 2009, the department licensed 14,677 professionals compared to 21,199 professionals in 2012 and the department licensed 1898 healthcare facilities in 2009 as compared to 2186 facilities in 2012.

He said currently Dubai has 23 private hospitals and four government hospitals and by the end of 2014, seven additional private hospitals will be operational.

In terms of international accreditations, Al Maidoor said that it is mandatory for all private hospitals to seek international accreditations and so far 67 per cent are internationally accredited.

In terms of DHA hospitals- Dubai, Rashid and Latifa were reaccredited by Joint  Commission International( JCI) for the third time in 2013.

JCI accredits healthcare facilities once every three years and DHA hospitals as well as DHA's Thalassemia Centre were first accredited in 2007 and reaccredited every three years thereafter.

The DHA's airport medical centre was first accredited by JCI in 2010 and reaccredited in 2013.

DHA primary healthcare centres are currently undergoing the process to seek accreditations.

Medical Education achievements:

The DHA's focus on medical education has been significant since developing a specialized workforce in the health sector is pivotal to its growth. Since 2005, more than 86 scholars have completed their post-graduation medical studies abroad and are now practising in the various hospitals and health centres at the DHA. Of the 86 medical professionals, 76 completed their higher education in medical and paramedical fields and 10 completed them in health care administration. Presently the DHA has 26 medical professionals studying abroad.