The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is at the forefront of the latest advances in healthcare following its participation in an innovative procedure to treat blocked coronary arteries. The new therapy, which was undertaken for the first time at Dubai Hospital and Rashid Hospital last week, is deemed so groundbreaking that it has been hailed the ‘Fourth Revolution’ in the field of cardiology.
 
The DHA is the first health entity in the Middle East and Africa to offer the new therapy, putting the DHA firmly on the map for breakthrough advances in healthcare.

The new therapy that was performed is titled ‘ABSORB’ and involves the insertion of a bioresorbable scaffold into an affected coronary artery to keep it open and thereby promote the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart. The procedure is similar to the existing technique that places a ’stent’ into a diseased artery, but with one crucial difference. Whereas the stent is a permanent fixture that remains in the blood vessel, making the vessel similar to a cage, the scaffold progressively dissolves over a period of two years, leaving the artery widened but with no trace of the device left.

“The DHA is very pleased to be able to participate in the ABSORB program, which promises to revolutionise the treatment of coronary artery disease over the coming years,” said His Excellency Khalid Al Sheikh Mubarak, Deputy Director-General at the DHA.

“The first ever ABSORB procedure for the Middle East and Africa was successfully undertaken at Dubai and Rashid Hospital and this auspicious event heralds the start of a new chapter in the treatment of heart disease in the region. Thanks to the foresight of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, who is determined to reduce the social and economic burden of heart disease in the UAE, the DHA is now playing a leading role in new forms of treatment for this condition, which is currently the number one cause of death in the country,” he added.

The first ever insertion of an Abbott ABSORB scaffold device in the Middle East and Africa took place at Dubai Hospital’s Heart Center and was performed by Dr. Talib K. Majwal, Consultant, Interventional Cardiology & Director of Interventional Cardiology, Dubai Heart Center, Dubai Hospital and Dr. Fahad Baslaib, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist and Director of Rashid Hospital’s Cardiology Department. The procedure took about twenty minutes, with the patient remaining conscious throughout.

“In terms of insertion technique, the ABSORB scaffold procedure is much the same as placing a stent in an affected artery, so there was no need to learn a major new set of skills for this new treatment paradigm,” said Dr. Majwal.

“Although the insertion technique is the same, the huge advantage that this scaffold has over a stent is that over a period of two years it dissolves into harmless gas and water, leaving the coronary artery free of any foreign object. This allows the artery to flex and pulsate, which is better for blood flow than having a restrictive permanent stent that turns the vessel into an inflexible cage and inhibits artery movement,” he added.

The term ‘Fourth Revolution’ that has been applied to the ABSORB scaffold procedure follows its recognition as a groundbreaking form of treatment for coronary artery disease. It is the latest development that has seen a linear progression from the ‘First Revolution,’ which was coronary angioplasty using a balloon to widen the affected artery, the ‘Second Revolution,’ which was the use of a permanent metal stent to unblock an artery and the ‘Third Revolution,’ which incorporated drugs built into a stent to be gradually released over time.

“The ABSORB bioresorbable scaffold offers numerous benefits over metal stents, so it can be considered as a whole new treatment paradigm in its own right,” said Dr. Fahad Baslaib.

“The ABSORB procedure is particularly beneficial for younger patients, as there is the option for further forms of treatment in the future - something that the insertion of a metal stent precludes. This is especially significant for the UAE, as the average age that people start to experience heart problems here is 45 years of age, which is 10 to 15 years younger than in Europe,” he added.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, January 18, 2012:  The Dubai Health Authority announced today the introduction of the first comprehensive immunization services policy for the Emirate of Dubai.

The policy, which is the first and only one on immunization in the UAE, is part of the initiatives of the Dubai Health Strategy Sector and is aimed to improve and strengthen the functioning of immunization services for the  entire health sector in the Emirate of Dubai.

The policy which has been developed after extensive study and in-depth research, has been implemented beginning this year and is applicable for all hospitals and health centers that wish to provide immunization services.

His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the DHA highlighted that the unified immunization policy will assure better access to immunization services in the Emirate of Dubai and that special emphasis has been given to child immunizations. Al Murooshid said: “We would like to ensure that Dubai’s residents enjoy safe and efficient immunization services and the introduction of this policy will help us achieve this by ensuring uniformity across all parameters of immunization services in the Emirate. Immunization is of key importance to protect the community from several life threatening diseases and  this policy will help us benchmark ourselves internationally in terms of immunization services.”

He added the while both the private and the government sector provide good standards of immunization services, introducing a unified policy is a step in the right direction to further enhance the health services provided in the Emirate.

He said the introduction of this policy will facilitate coordination between different health sectors within the Emirate to follow a unified policy.

Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA mentioned that the policy will significantly benefit the health sector and will ensure that immunization services, especially for children, are streamlined in the Emirate. She said, “The policy stems from the DHA’s wider aim to improve public health services in the Emirate and it is in line with the objectives of the Dubai Health Strategy 2011 to 2013. Prior to introducing this policy, we conducted a detained analysis of the existing situation in terms of immunization services in Dubai, we later analyzed the data and identified existing gaps and accordingly developed a unified policy.  With the implementation of this policy, all hospitals and health clinics in the private and government health sector in the Emirate of Dubai will have to follow the same immunization practices.”

She said the Department of Public Health is working in cooperation with the DHA Health Regulation Department to ensure that every health facility or hospital that administers these vaccines follows a certain set of rules and regulations.

She said, “ To monitor the process of administering vaccines across the private and public health sector in Dubai, the Public Health and Safety Department and the DHA Health regulation department have jointly developed the criteria for provision of vaccination services.  Accordingly private clinics will be licensed as Vaccine Qualified Clinics (VQCs) and their functions will be monitored by the DHA Health Regulation according to the Immunization Guideline.”

She said that this should not be a difficult task as a majority of the healthcare facilities in Dubai are already fulfilling their licensing criteria to provide this service and that by implementing the VQCs system, adults and children who are vaccinated can be sure that they will receive potent and safe vaccines.

Al Jassmi said, “All clinics who wish to function as a VQC will have to adhere to guidelines for various processes such as their set-up, staffing structure, storage criteria for vaccines and medicines, emergency supplies. In addition, VQC’s will have to ensure that suppliers of vaccines are licensed and follow the required mandated transportation and cold chain storage practices. Clinics will also have to maintain accurate recording of immunization schedules, they will have to maintain complete record of adverse reactions and reporting system. All clinics and hospitals will have to maintain records of vaccination cards including all EPI recommended vaccines. The clinic will also have to ensure that the clinic is run by well trained as per DHA requirements and the DHA health public health department will also support clinics by organising training courses from time-to-time.”

She said to ensure that clinics are following these requirements; the DHA Health Regulation Department will carry out regular inspections.

Dr Ramadan Ibrahim, Director of Health Regulation at the DHA said, “As per the unified policy, firstly, for any clinic or hospital to provide vaccination services in the Emirate, they will first have to quality to be a VQC, once that is established, we will also conduct regular inspections from time-to-time to ensure that the VQC’s are following all mandatory rules and regulations. This policy will help further strengthen the quality of healthcare services provided in the Emirate.”

Dr. Aizeldin Ibrahim, Acting director of Public Health and Safety, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA added that the implementation of the unified policy for immunizations was implemented after in-depth study and research in the field. He said, “From 2009, the department conducted a study to assess the immunization services in Dubai in terms of quality, safety, accessibility and identified opportunities for improvement and we realized that there is need to reform the existing immunization services and to implement a uniform immunization policy to regulate the provision of vaccination services.”

Dr Ibrahim said that the study highlighted that in Dubai, 28% of the clinics studied, were not following the national immunization schedule, 41% have no reminder system and 48% of the clinics lacked a system to trace defaulters. Sixty four per cent of private healthcare facilities were not reporting adverse events. On the other hand; periodic reporting to the concerned authorities (Ministry of Health and DHA) was found to be inadequate in 48% of the private facilities.

Eighty three per cent demonstrated high quality immunization registry system and 88 % of the private clinics followed specific policy to maintain cold chain and there was high compliance with regard to regular monitoring of vaccine-storage temperature.

Dr Ibrahim said that the findings of the study highlighted the need to implement a unified policy which will ensure standardized procedures and coordinated efforts are followed by both private and public healthcare facilities in Dubai. The policy aims to improve immunization services and to provide technical guidance to healthcare providers to ensure they follow best practices in terms of administering and storing vaccines.

He highlighted that the policy will enforce the national immunization program approved by the Ministry of Health and healthcare facilities providing childhood immunization services will have to follow this schedule. “ Every country develops a national immunization schedule keeping in mind the disease burden of the country and the UAE is no different. The UAE national immunization schedule was developed to suit the disease burden in UAE, however, is parents wish to give their children additional vaccines which are not in the schedule, they may choose to do so.”

Dr Hisham Al Khatib, Senior Public Health Specialist, Public Health and Safety Department, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA explained that, applying this policy will ensure the implementation of a unified and improved recording and reporting system across all healthcare facilities in the Emirate and it will ensure healthcare facilities devise an appropriate way of tracing children who do not show up for their immunizations on the appointed days (tracing defaulters). He added that the vaccination records are based on the UAE National Immunization Schedule. Therefore, this policy will help the DHA gauge the actual coverage of immunization services in Dubai.

Dr Lubna Al Shaali, Public Health Specialist, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA mentioned that the department has formulated a comprehensive immunization guideline, which is the first of its kind in the country, with the support of healthcare stakeholders. The guideline has is based on regional and international best practices and is endorsed by all the concerned healthcare stakeholders.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, January 12, 2012: As part of the Dubai Health Authority’s ongoing campaign to alleviate the suffering of children and young adults with heart problems, specialists from Dubai Health Authority and a visiting team of specialists from Italy will perform free life-saving surgeries for children in the month of February.

The visiting doctors from San Donato Hospital in Milan will be in Dubai from the 18th to the 26th of February.

This program is part of a humanitarian initiative by the DHA and the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment. The Dubai Health Authority covers the cost of surgery for Emiratis and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment covers the cost for expatriates.

Dr Obaid Al Jassim, a consultant cardiac surgeon and head of the cardiothoracic surgery department at Dubai Hospital said, “This program to conduct free heart surgeries started in October 2008 and as part of this humanitarian initiative, so far, we have conducted 250 surgeries and caterization procedures for children with congenital heart disease, aged newborns to 19 years.”

Dr Jassim said the workshops were conducted in collaboration with Swedish and Italian teams. Dr Jassim said that registrations are still open for children who require such procedures. “Presently the DHA team of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are consulting patients who have approached the DHA for such treatment. We will evaluate the cases and priority will be given to those who are most in need.”

In June 2011, the visiting doctors from San Donato Hospital in Milan and specialists from the DHA performed an extremely complicated life-saving surgery, known as ‘arterial switch’ on a 12 day old baby weighting 3.2 kilos.

The team performed their first arterial switch operation in March 2011. The operation was significant was it marked the beginning of such a complex paediatric operation to be performed in the Emirate of Dubai.

Dr Jassim mentioned that patients who require a consultation can contact Dubai Hospital on 04 219 5000 or 04 219 5643

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, January 10, 2012: The Dubai Health Authority organized a seminar on physical activity for school students in the Emirate of Dubai.

The seminar was organized in collaboration with various stakeholders to discuss future plans to implement international best practice guidelines for school physical activity and to introduce a unified physical activity curriculum across all schools in the Emirate of Dubai.

For this purpose, the Dubai Health Authority met with relevant stakeholders including Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Initiative for the Development of Health, Physical Education and School Sports, Ministry of Education and the Dubai Sports Council to discuss their experience in terms of school physical activity and the way forward to implement unified programs for the benefit of school children.

The aim of the seminar was to highlight the efforts of various stakeholders with regard to the work done so far in terms of encouraging school physical education and activity, to propose further strategies for enhancement of school physical education and activity in Dubai and to develop school physical education and activity guidelines, in line with the Dubai Health Authority’s health strategy for the Emirate of Dubai.

Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA highlighted the importance of this seminar to strengthen the authority’s efforts in terms of promoting physical activity as part of DHA’s strategic objectives. She said that educating school children about the importance of physical activity and healthy lifestyle will go a long way in reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and is a key component to protect the youth from developing these lifestyle diseases as they progress into adulthood.

Al Jasmi said that regular physical exercise plays an important role to ensure students’ receive a well-rounded education program and develop habits which will positively affect their life-long health and well-being.

“We are looking to introduce the optimal physical education program and we are working with various stakeholders in this regard. The seminar is part of our efforts in this direction. Ultimately, improved coordinated school health programs, of which physical education is a central component, will augment other prevention efforts and help reverse the growing epidemic of childhood obesity which threatens to increase the incidence of cardiovascular and other diseases. Effective efforts will help prevent children from developing lifetime chronic diseases.”

Dr. Aizeldin Ibrahim, Acting director of Public Health and Safety, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA said that the social and economic changes that have taken place over the last few decades and the demographic and epidemiological shifts in the region, have resulted in the creation of significant changes in terms of health challenges and risks to public health and non-communicable diseases have emerged to be a leading threat. “Despite the success achieved by the Gulf region in terms of various health indicators such as decrease in the rates of child mortality, control of many communicable diseases and the elimination of some of these diseases, there is a marked increase in the incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases which are known as “lifestyle diseases” and therefore there is an urgent need to reach out to the children and youth and encourage healthy lifestyle and regular physical activity.

Dr. Fathia Hatim Al Mazmi, Head of Health Promotion section, Public Health and Safety Department at the DHA said that schools are the optimum place to inculcate lifelong habits as children spend most hours of their daily lives in schools.

She said ensuring and protecting the youth from developing lifestyle diseases will ensure a healthier future for them and will also have economic benefits through maximum utilization of individual capacities.

Dr. Mazmi highlighted that the authority has undertaken several efforts to promote and create strategic partnerships and collaborations with all concerned stakeholders to support the development of an optimal strategy for promotion of physical activity across schools in Dubai.

“In December 2011, we conducted a comprehensive school physical activity survey, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Dubai Statistics centre. The survey was conducted across all government and private schools in the Emirate of Dubai to access the levels of physical activity in schools, to identify gaps as well as understand successful physical activity initiatives.

“We are currently tabulating the results of the survey and based on our findings and recommendations, we will formulate a comprehensive unified action plan to improve physical activity and education in schools.”

She said the aim is to enhance physical, mental, and social development of every child and to improve their physical well-being through the development of standardized guidelines for physical activity in schools.

Dr. Rasha Salama, Senior Specialist of Public Health, in Public Health and Safety Department seconded this opinion and said that the plan will be formulated on evidence-based data and information which the authority has collected across all schools.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, December 5, 2011: His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai Health Authority inaugurated today an exhibition organised by the International Diabetes Federation’s World Diabetes Congress at the Sheikh Rashid Hall in International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

He was accompanied by His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority and Professor Jean Claude Mbanya, President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

The Dubai Health Authority announced their expansion plans for the Dubai Diabetes Centre at the exhibition. The centre is the only one in the Emirate that provides comprehensive treatment for diabetics.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum listened to the Authority’s plans to shift its existing Dubai Diabetes centre to a new location in order to double the centre’s capacity to treat patients.
 
The new centre will also introduce the paediatric endocrinologist speciality to provide diabetic children under the age of 18 with comprehensive diabetes care and management.

His Highness discussed the importance of the paediatric endocrine facility which the centre will offer and highlighted the importance of providing such state-of-the-art diabetic care to patients, especially to children.

Professor Jean Claude Mbanya, President of the IDF said, “The expansion of this centre is significant in terms of providing specialised care for a larger number of diabetic patients in the Emirate and this is of vital importance, especially in this region.”

His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of the DHA said the expansion plan is aimed to provide comprehensive diabetes care and management to more patients in the Emirate. “The new centre will increase the clinic’s capacity by 50 per cent and the centre is more than two times the size of the existing one which is located in the Al Wasl Hospital premises. Our goal is to multiply capacity so that we reach out to a larger number of diabetic patients.

“The highlight of this centre is that we will introduce a new speciality which is paediatric endocrinology. This will enable us to provide diabetic care and management for children under the age of 18 years. We have designed the paediatric centre to be child-friendly and the kid’s section will have a playarea and some games so that children find the centre to be attractive and experience a warm and comfortable environment.”

Dr M. Hamed Farooqi, Director of the Dubai Diabetes Centre said, “Paediatric endocrinology is a very specialised field and we will provide complete endocrinological care for children at the centre.”

For this purpose, the centre will have day care treatment room so that all the diagnostic tests can be conducted in the centre itself.

Moreover the centre will also enhance the capacity for retinal imaging and podiatry facility, both of which are critical for early diagnosis of complications in diabetics, said Dr Farooqi.

He added that the centre will have an in-house pharmacy, a labouratory to conduct tests as well as a gym. “The aim of providing a gym within the premises of the centre is to have exercise facilities under medical supervision for diabetics.”

An exercise physiologist will analyse and tailor make programs to suit the needs of every diabetic patient.

The centre will also begin a new program of training 10 primary health care physicians from the DHA in diabetes care and management. These physicians will train with the centre for one year and join one of the DHA’s 13 primary health centres. Dr Farooqi said the aim of this program is to further strengthen the importance of specialised diabetic care across primary centres as primary centres provide frontline treatment to patients.

Dr Farooqi said from the time the Dubai Diabetes Centre was launched in April 2009, to date, the centre has seen 13440 new cases and 32271 cases.

He said the new centre will be able to provide treatment to double the number of patients and the DHA will expand the staff at the centre by 50 per cent to cater to the increase in demand.

Box:

Benefits of the centre:

•Double the capacity of the current centre
•More than two times the space of the current centre. Current centre is 8000sq feet, new centre is 20,000sq feet
•Double the capacity for the retinal and podiatry clinic
•New Paediatric Endocrine clinic –For children under the age of 18 years.
•Kid friendly area –playarea and dedicated area for games
•Day-long admission treatment rooms
•Gym with qualified exercise physiologist
•Have a demonstration kitchen for  hands-on training in healthy cooking
•In-house pharmacy
•Private room for nursing mothers
•Larger group diabetes education sessions
•Training of primary healthcare physicians.
•Introduce patient support groups which are essential in achieving better diabetes control
•Start a clinical research program

17thNovember 2011, Dubai, United Arab Emirates– In celebration of World Diabetes Day, Decide™ participated in an event spearheaded by the Dubai Health Authority to help increase awareness on diabetes in the UAE.

The UAE has the second highest rate of diabetes cases worldwide with 25% of the population diagnosed with the condition. The Decide™ Initiative aims to help lower this rate through informed decisions and healthy lifestyle options.

“World Diabetes Day is a significant worldwide event as it marks the global goal of responding to the challenges of diabetes prevention and management,” says Jan Felton, spokesperson for Decide.

“Decide™ participates in activities that help promote awareness and education on diabetes and nutrition, especially to children. It is important to learn the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the risks of diabetes at an early age in order to prevent an upsurge in the already alarming number of diabetes cases in the UAE,” Felton adds.

The event held at the Arabian Centre was attended by Dr. WafaaHelmiAyesh, Director of the Clinical Nutrition Department of the Dubai Health Authority.

During the event, Decide™, distributed healthy lunch boxes that were divided up into sections like a ‘healthy plate,’ which is the new symbol for healthy eating.The healthy plate indicates that half of what we eat should comprise fruits and vegetables, a fourth should be healthy starches such as whole grains and a fourth should be protein sources like meat and meat substitutes.

Dubai Health Authority organised activities for children to help them distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods, and free blood sugar and blood pressure tests for adults, which is an important factor in the diagnosis, management and prevention of diabetes.

United Arab Emirates, November 16, 2011: His Excellency Khalid Al Sheikh Mubarak, Deputy Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority recently visited the Dubai Health Authority’s clinic which is set up at the Airport Dubai International Air show, which is taking place at Dubai Airport Expo.

The clinic is dedicated to provide healthcare services for visitors of the air show.

Al Sheikh Mubarak said that the DHA is pleased to extend its services to the air show and that the clinic is fully prepared to deal with any kind of medical emergency during this time.

He said that DHA is keen to provide the best medical services to its population and ensuring that the DHA sets up on-the-spot medical services for people visiting such a large scale event is one of the directives of the authority to ensure it caters to the medical needs of the community.

The Dubai Health Clinic at the Dubai Air show provides free health screening for visitors as part of its community outreach initiatives. This includes checking of blood pressures, blood sugar and cholesterol as well as a free consultation..

Al Shaikh Mubarak was accompanied by Dr Mohammad Al Olama, CEO of Hospital Services Sector, Dr Ahmed Kalban, CEO of Primary Health Care and Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA.

Dubai - Nov 14th: Under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of Dubai Executive Council and Chairman of Dubai Autism Centre, the Dubai Autism Centre is organizing an international conference on the occasion of its 10th anniversary under the title ‘Autism… what’s next?’ which will benefit relevant institutions, government organizations, directors of autism and special needs centres, caregivers of children with autism in the various medical and educational fields, as well as parents and family members.

Highlighting the importance of the conference, Mr. Mohammad AL Emadi, Director General and Board Member of Dubai Autism Centre declared: “In line with the strategies of the Centre and its training programs, the conference has been accredited by the Dubai Health Authority for 5.5 credit hours, what would add an academic value to the conference besides its educational benefits on working with children with autism,”

The conference is a full day event that will be held on November 27th at the Knowledge Village. It will feature internationally renowned expert speakers in their respective fields. The keynote speakers represent top institutes from the US and the UK, who are leading the way in research, diagnosis, autism advocacy and intervention.

The conference aims at highlighting the international efforts of limiting the difficulties that can arise from growing up with autism, as well as the latest research and best practices, international early detection diagnosis methods, and the curriculum used in the rehabilitation of children with autism and the future of adults with autism. Through this conference, the Dubai Autism Centre is stressing the importance of adopting globally proven programs and encouraging the various centres to adopt internationally accredited programs and standards.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, October 30, 2011: The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) in line with its public health initiatives is conducting anti-tobacco initiatives through its cessation clinics and campaigns.

Dr Hanan Obaid, Head of Community Health Services Programs Section at the DHA said, “Through our smoking awareness campaigns which we have conducted in 2010 and this year, we realised that there is an urgent need to create regular community awareness activities with regard to tobacco use because of the significant number of youngsters using tobacco. They are our productive population and are at a high risk of developing diseases caused by long-term use of tobacco.”

Dr Hanan said in 2010, the primary healthcare section of the DHA conducted 98 anti-smoking campaigns targeting 6,221 people across various schools, colleges, malls, government institutions as well as sports clubs.

From the data collected and analysed, Obaid said that there is a need to reach out to the schools in Dubai. She said, “We screened 2,457 students in Dubai schools both Government and private schools. We found the prevalence of tobacco use among school students in Dubai is 14.6% while the percentage of passive smoking among school children is 29.1%. These are children under the age of 20 using tobacco, so we can only imagine the long term health complications that they are at a risk of developing.”

In terms of the type of tobacco used, Obaid said, 11.2 per cent used cigarettes, 2.2 per cent used Shisha, 1.9 per cent used the pipe, 0.8 per cent used cigar and 0.8 per cent used chewed tobacco.

She said adolescents are a high risk group and therefore the authority plans to visit several schools through its anti-smoking initiative in 2012. “We have conducted several campaigns in the past across schools in Dubai, however, we see the need to regularly reach out to children and adolescents and we plan to implement this policy in 2012.

She said the target age group of the campaign will be children and adolescents from the age group of 12- 21 who are more prone to using tobacco as a method of relieving stress. “We aim to reach out to 80,000 students over a period of six months. We are planning the logistics of the project at the moment and will implement it shortly.”

Hanan said that the DHA has two smoking cession clinics one of which is located in Rashid Hospital and the other one is in the Al Twar Health centre. For UAE nationals it is free of cost and for non-nationals the fee is nominal. The Smoking Cessation Clinic at Al Twar provides cessation programs and counselling every Thursday and the clinic in Rashid Hospital provides counselling provides counselling for patients once they book an appointment.

Dr Obaid said that DHA has plans to open another cessation clinic before the end of this year.

The Al Twar Smoking Cessation Clinic numbers are  04- 2612114 and 04-5022101.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai : In line with this year’s international healthcare quality week, the Dubai Health Authority organized a day-long awareness seminar and exhibition to highlight the importance of quality as a fundamental goal in the field of healthcare and health management to help further improve patient outcomes.

The event organized by the Governance and Internal Audit Department at the DHA.

His Excellency Khalid Al Sheikh Mubarak, Deputy Director-General of the DHA inaugurated the ceremony and said that the aim of holding such an event is to educate  all  the healthcare professionals practicing within the DHA including doctors, nurses, technicians and administrative staff, about the importance of ensuring sustained quality in line with the principles of the Dubai Government Excellence Program.

He said, “The importance of quality in improving patient care outcomes and healthcare delivery systems is of pivotal importance. Through this event we will create awareness and encourage our healthcare professionals about the importance of complying with the standards of the Dubai Government Excellence Program.”

He highlighted that DHA employees as well as the management have in the past won DGEP awards for quality and excellence.

Dr Mohammad Al Olama, CEO of the Hospital Services Sector said, “We are keen to inform all DHA employees about the requirements for achieving the DGEP award as well as international accreditations such as the Joint Certification International Accreditation( JCIA) which are all aimed to improve the quality of healthcare which we provide to the population of our Emirate. The DHA pays strong emphasis to such benchmarks as they are important to provide high level of sustained quality healthcare.”

In 2009, the DHA won the distinguished management initiative award for obtaining the JCIA for its three hospitals- Al Wasl, Dubai and Rashid as well as the Thalassemia centre. Later the Airport Medical Centre of DHA which is based at the Dubai International Airport also received the JCIA for ambulatory care making it the world’s

first medical centre to achieve this accreditation. Furthermore, DHA employees also received the DGEP award in 2010 for various categories such as creative employee award, distinguished employee award as well as the shared government employee award.

Dr Abdulla Al Khayat, CEO of Al Wasl Hospital also highlighted Al Wasl Hospital’s role in complying with WHO and UNICEF standards which led to the hospital being conferred the, ‘Baby-Friendly,’ hospital status by UNICEF.

Dr. Zakaria Al Attal , Director of Quality & Performance Department, Hospital Services Sector, DHA said, “Benchmarking oneself with the criterions of the DGEP and international accreditations is essential to ensure that the healthcare services we provide to our population meets international standards. We are certain that such awareness initiatives will further motivate our healthcare professionals to meet and excel these standards.”