Tuesday, Oct 06, 2015
Dubai: World-class affordable health care with suitable insurance cover and the provision of effective medical tools like a public health fund to cover unforeseen medical emergencies such as cancer treatment and expenses incurred in upkeep of premature babies are some of the highlights of the Dubai Health Authority’s Health Strategy 2016-2021 which is ready to roll by the end of this year.
The Health Strategy 2016-2021 is in line with the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and will be launched by the end of this year.
With the implementation of this strategy health-care officials promise a world-class, patient-centric model of health care in Dubai which will provide the finest medical facilities for the man on the street, with adequate health cover for all.
Currently the strategy, which has been conceived as a three-phased structure, is completing its first phase that ends on October 8. The first phase is about discussion of ideas where all stakeholders — health-care providers, experts, insurance specialists and members of the public — brainstorm the ideal health-care strategies,
The second phase, which will run until November, is about development of the ideas approved and prioritisation of these ideas based on the needs of the emirate. The third phase, which will conclude before the year ends, will be about methods and modes of implementation of the final strategy.
Nearly 800 innovative health-care ideas have been received by DHA for development in open discussions with the all stakeholders.
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Dr Haidhar Al Yousuf, director of DHA’s health funding and in charge of this project, told Gulf News: “We invited all stake holders — health-care providers, experts, nurses, doctors, paramedics, insurance providers and members of the public — to contribute their ideas on September 16 and 17 to brainstorm in an interactive laboratory where His Highness Shaikh Mohammad himself participated in many discussions. Before this, we held a virtual laboratory for our own staff inviting submission of innovative ideas. Members of the public were invited to share their ideas through various social media platforms and can still send in their ideas on Instagram and Twitter on #DHAfuture or email their ideas to future@dha.gov.ae until October 8.”
Dr Al Yousuf explained that they would immediately go to the next stage, compiling these ideas and listing them into the six fundamental heads of Prevention, Best Practices, Investment and Sustainability, Continuum of Care, Maintaining Medical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Health IT infrastructure.
“For instance, within continuum of care we have seen many gaps we require, besides primary health care and hospital care, episodic care, long-term care, to complete disease management. Once we have sorted out the ideas we will prioritise them based on the needs of the emirate and the implementation will be done in a series of strategic initiatives over the six-year period, defined by innovation and public-private partnership,” he added.
The residents of Dubai can expect a very smooth and efficient health-care system with the implementation of smart initiatives by next year.
By Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
