United Arab Emirates, Dubai, January 23, 2012: His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai Health Authority visited today the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) stand during his tour of the Arab Health Congress which is being held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan was greeted by His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority and DHA members.
Al Murooshid presented an overview of the latest services provided by the health authority and also gave a detailed presentation on the achievements and developments of Latifa Hospital, one of the largest maternity and paediatric hospitals in the Emirate.
Al Murooshid also highlighted a pertinent project which the authority has been working on since two years- a comprehensive update on existing regulatory policies and guidelines for the health sector.
Al Murooshid said, “Over the last two years, the DHA Health Regulation Department has worked with the health sector in Dubai to develop an update on the existing regulatory policies and guidelines.
“Updating the regulatory policies and guidelines for all facilities in the Emirate will ensure that facilities can cope with the present evolution in medicine. Moreover, it will ensure that we incorporate the rapid developments in medicine that have taken place across the world.
“The main aim of this update is to ensure the regulations that we draft for the health sector match the requirements for obtaining international accreditations as encouraging all entities in the Emirate of Dubai –private, government and free zone to obtain international accreditations is in line with the Dubai Strategic Plan.”
Dr Ramadan Ibrahim, Director of Health Regulation at the DHA said, “ The update is presently in the draft stages and is up for consultation so that we can receive any further feedback from the health sector. The health sector has been closely involved from the beginning of the project and this is the last stage before we shortly announce the finalization of these regulatory policies and guidelines.
“These new policies and guidelines are much more comprehensive and we are confident that it will help further strengthen the health sector and will make it simpler for healthcare institutions to gain international accreditations.”
Dr Mohammed Oussama Kayali, Head of Health Regulation Section at the DHA said, “Six new regulatory policies and three new guidelines have been introduced which upon implementation will be applicable for all health facilities in the private sector, government sector and free zones expect for the Dubai Healthcare City Authority.
“The six regulatory updates are for Hospitals, Day Care Surgical Centres, Outpatients, Diagnostic Imaging, Clinical Laboratory and Home Healthcare and the guidelines are for Health Records, Health Facility (which includes planning, designing, construction and commissioning of healthcare facilities) and guidelines on prevention of dental infections and safety standards.”
Dr Kayali said the updated regulations are much more comprehensive than the existing regulations and said that they provide details on a host of requirements that health facilities have to adhere to in terms of clinical requirements. This includes a comprehensive check list that healthcare facilities have to follow for patient safety, infection control, informed consent, regulations for visiting physicians and diagnostic facilities will also have to adhere to certain ethical obligations.
In addition to the announcement of this project, Al Murooshid also highlighted the DHA’s focus on providing ease of services to healthcare professionals, facilities and potential investors and in line with this vision, he mentioned the Authority’s implementation of the ‘Sheryan’ and ‘Tawajud’ services.
Al Murooshid said, “The recent introduction of the Sheryan project which is an online licensing application system has significantly impacted the health sector because now a healthcare professional can apply for a license to practice in Dubai from anywhere in the world. This makes the process quick, efficient and facilitates a completely paperless environment. Moreover, this system is applicable for investors as well, so investors can now submit their investment plan online.”
He added that the candidates can avail of this system from 300 centres located across 130 countries.
Al Murooshid also provided an overview of the Tawajud service, which is a door-to-door service for conducting medical fitness tests to renew residency, work or student visas in Dubai. He said, “For the convenience of corporate and individuals, we introduced this service. It provides interested persons an opportunity to have their medical test done from the comfort of their office or home, anywhere in Dubai.”
For every request, a maximum of 70 employees are screened at one time.
Maisa Al Bustani, Director of Medical Fitness at the DHA added that since the introduction of this service in October 2010, more than 9000 people have used the service.
She also elaborated on the expansion plan for the Tawajud project and said, “Presently this service is available for renewal of visas, however, shortly we will extend this service for issuance of visas as well.”
At the DHA stand, Tawajud and Sheryan booklets were available in several languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, French and Urdu for the convenience of customers.
