As the Dubai Health Strategy 2021 completes almost two years of implementation, DHA experts to evaluate its success in improving healthcare services in the emirate and to understand its impact on the overall health sector.
“DHA’s Dubai Health Strategy has 2016-2021 has three key goals”, says Fatima Abbas, Director of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA. “These are: drive innovation and ensure governance, protect and improve population health and ensure patient happiness by providing world-class health services. These goals are aimed to fulfill the DHA’s vision which is to towards a healthier and happier community. Our focus is working across a continuum of care, starting from early prevention and detection of disease all the way to rehabilitation.”
In the last two years, Abbas says the DHA has accomplished several key tasks keeping in mind the top three goals and all the initiatives of the strategy, which we had divided into immediate, medium and long-term goals. Several of the immediate initiatives were accomplished and these include:
Achievements under innovation and ensure governance
- Implementing easier medical regulation processes in line with international best practices. Total number of health professional license increased by 15 per cent and no of facilities licensed increased by about 27 per cent.
- Meanwhile DHA is working on revamping its health governance structure, which will result in increased accountability of hospitals and will further improve patient safety and experience.
- DHA has adopted new health technologies such as telemedicine, RoboDoc and 3D printing with the aim of fostering innovation across the continuum of care in addition to smart applications
- In the electronic medical record front, we have completed the implementation of the records across all DHA facilities. Recently, Rashid and Dubai Hospital and 12 DHA PHC’s were felicitated with an award for achieving EMRAM stage 6 of patient data maturity.
Achievements under protecting and improving population health - As of now, 92 per cent of hospitals in Dubai have completed their international accreditation, which is a significant jump from 86 per cent in 2015.
- Number of physicians per 10,000 of the population has reached 33 exceeding the national level ( 27) and is approaching the level achieved by Sweden ( 39)
Achievements under patient happiness and providing world-class healthcare services - Insurance coverage for all Dubai Residents has been a direct source of patient happiness and today 98 per cent of Dubai residents have been covered under the mandatory health insurance scheme.
- Life expectancy of Dubai residents has reached almost 80 years exceeding that of the USA and approaching UK and Japan.
Abbas adds that innovation is a key part of the DHA strategy. DHA is currently establishing it’s innovation center and partnering up with world leaders in healthcare and pharmaceutical industries to work on addressing the region’s healthcare challenges, utilizing the best research minds and people’s capabilities of the region, and leveraging the best practices.
In addition to this, DHA has been a vital member of Dubai Future Foundation Accelerator program for the past three cycles, and managed to partner up with a number of rising companies on implementing innovations in the healthcare delivery.
Dr Mohammed Al Redha, Director of Organizational Transformation at the DHA says: “DHA have already utilizing a number of technologies and advancements in its day-to-day healthcare delivery, such as 3D printing for prosthetics, dentures, and cosmetics. Furthermore, DHA has also implemented Telemedicine, piloted and is now implementing the RoboDoc, which enables specialists to give their expert opinion to cases in remote areas, or for patients who are less mobile. Using smart technology and innovation is a priority for the DHA and in the years to come, patients, medical professionals and the overall health sector will see the direct benefits of such initiatives.”
