Mohammad briefed on Dubai Health Authority strategy

Dubai: Dubai Health Authority yesterday unveiled ambitious plans to boost the emirate’s healthcare facilities and promote health tourism.

Rashid Hospital is to be rebuilt at a cost of Dh3 billion and three new hospitals are to be constructed along with two five-star hotels to house people accompanying patients.

The expansion is in line with the DHA’s 2013-2025 strategy.

The long-term vision will manage the current and future healthcare demands from Emiratis and residents as well as medical tourists.

During a visit to the DHA headquarters, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, was briefed on the Authority’s expansion projects, WAM reported yesterday.Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, were present.

Shaikh Mohammad also launched a website to measure customer satisfaction. He said he was satisfied with the DHA’s short- and long-term strategy and expressed his support for projects that aim to provide comprehensive healthcare and protection to the community.

The strategy builds on Shaikh Mohammad’s long-term sustainable development vision to promote Dubai as a favoured destination for health tourism in the Middle East.

In a presentation, Eisa Al Maidour, director-general of the DHA showed images of key expansion projects. Al Maidour spoke about the authority’s strategy for 2013-2025, which seeks to achieve four goals: prevention and awareness; easy access to health services; quality, and investment and competitiveness.

Rashid Hospital, which specialises in emergency, trauma, critical and ambulatory care, will increase its number of beds to 900.

It will expand its trauma centre to 116 beds, its outpatient facility to 160 treatment rooms, and establish new centres for heart, cancer, kidney and cosmetic surgeries in addition to six new specialised centres.

Currently the hospital, which receives the majority of complicated case referrals from many other hospitals, has 599 beds.

Other projects include expansion of the emirate’s sole centre for the elderly, the Community Centre for the Elderly in Al Mamzar, with a heritage market and mosque. It will also facilitate a forum to create an atmosphere of integration between families and the elderly.

The forum was launched by Shaikh Mohammad.