Key expansion and new projects to improve access to health services
Two five star hotels and a market to be built to serve people accompanying patients
Dubai: Key expansion and new projects to improve access to health services and make Dubai a formidable player in the global medical tourism sector were announced by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) on Sunday [May 19].
Among key projects are the rebuilding of Rashid Hospital at a cost of Dh3 billion, construction of three new hospitals, concept of two five-star hotels and a market to serve people accompanying patients.
The announcement was made in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who was briefed on the Authority’s expansion projects.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, and Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, were present.
The expansion project is in line with the DHA’s 2013-2025 strategy to manage current and future health-care demands from nationals and residents as well as medical tourists.
During Shaikh Mohammad’s visit to the DHA headquarters, Eisa Al Maidour, director-general of the DHA, presented the authority’s strategy for 2013-2025.
Shaikh Mohammad said he was satisfied with the DHA’s short- and long-term strategy and expressed his support for projects that aim to provide comprehensive health care and protection to members of the community. He launched a website for measuring customer satisfaction.
The strategy has four goals: prevention and awareness; easy access to health services; quality, and investment and competitiveness.
Shaikh Mohammad was also informed about the DHA’s three-phase plan to find urgent solutions to pressing challenges dealing with customer service in the short term, administrative and technical affairs in the medium term and strategic issues in the long term.
The expansion of Rashid Hospital, which specialises in emergency, trauma, critical and ambulatory care, will increase the current capacity from 599 beds to 900, expanding the current trauma centre to 160 beds, out-patient facility to 160 treatment rooms, and establishing new centres for heart, cancer, kidney and cosmetic surgeries, in addition to six new specialised centres.
Another expansion project is that of the emirate’s sole centre for the elderly, the Community Centre for the Elderly in Al Mamzar which aims to help patients lead a fully functioning life and increase life expectancy. The centre currently has 30 in-patients and 50 out-patients.
As part of the expansion, there will be a heritage market and mosque (for 150 worshippers). The expansion will also facilitate a forum that will create an atmosphere of integration between families and the elderly.
Shaikh Mohammad launched the forum during his visit. He also launched a website for measuring customer satisfaction.
Future projects comprise construction of three hospitals: Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Hospital on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed road, Al Maktoum Hospital in Jebel Ali’s Al Maktoum Airport area, and Al Khawaneej Hospital.
Al Maidour told Shaikh Mohammad that the strategy will be delivered through 43 initiatives backed by an enhanced control plan and Key Performance Indicators (KPI). In an earlier interview with Gulf News, Al Maidour had said, “We are building on the Dubai Master Plan 2020. We are keeping an eye on the changes not only locally, but regionally and internationally, to be number one.”
He said an additional 1,500 hospital beds will be available as construction and renovation of medical facilities are under way.
“We expect a steady increase in health-care requirements. Within the DHA network of health centres and hospitals, we have increased capacity by about 12 per cent. We are looking into different parameters to ensure sustainable growth,” he said.
(With inputs by WAM)
