UAE | Health
Deportation will not free up beds - doctor
Deporting patients with tuberculosis (TB) will not necessarily solve the problem of overcrowding in hospitals, some roleplayers have said.
- By Nina MuslimStaff Reporter
- Published: 00:07 July 4, 2008
- Dr Abdullah Mahmoud Ustadi, head of the infectious diseases department at Rashid Hospital, said deporting TB patients would not free up much-needed bed space.
- Image Credit: Nina Muslim/Gulf News
Dubai: Deporting patients with tuberculosis (TB) will not necessarily solve the problem of overcrowding in hospitals, some roleplayers have said.
Some hospitals here have had to admit TB patients to normal wards due to a shortage of isolation rooms.
Contrary to a federal law, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have not been deporting people with TB but treated them until they were cured.
But the Ministry of Health on Tuesday reaffirmed its policy that TB sufferers in the UAE be deported, asking Abu Dhabi and Dubai to implement the policy.
Patients will now be deported after they are deemed no longer infectious, which is not the same as cured.
Dr Abdullah Mahmoud Ustadi, head of the infectious diseases department at Rashid Hospital, said deporting TB patients would not free up much-needed bed space.
"It's not like they can be treated in a day or two. To [reach the non-infectious stage], they need to stay for three to four months," he said.
"If they are [no longer infectious], why deport them? By the time one of them comes to me, he has already infected others," he added.
The trauma centre at Rashid Hospital has had to house TB patients in its isolation rooms when there was no space in the 22-bed infectious diseases ward or 20-bed respiratory unit.
Dr Ustadi said the focus should be on better screening of people before they come to the UAE instead of deporting TB patients after the fact.
He added deporting patients would put them at risk of developing multi-drug resistant TB, an increasing global threat.
Despite this, he said the department would comply with the federal law, understanding the burden the disease places on the country's health care system.
A senior official at the ministry, who asked not to be identified, told Gulf News the policy, which had been in force in the northern Emirates, has not solved the ministry's bed-space problem in dealing with TB. "We had two female TB patients in the normal ward in Al Kuwaiti Hospital two months ago because we didn't have space. One was Emirati, the other was a non-national," he said.
At last count, the Ministry of Health had 32 isolation wards, including one each in Al Kuwaiti Hospital and Al Baraha Hospital in Dubai. Each isolation ward can accommodate between seven and eight patients at a time.
Dr Mahmoud Fikree, chief executive officer for health policy at the ministry, denied to Gulf News that there was a space shortage in dealing with infectious diseases.
He said TB patients could be kept in general wards as long they were in private rooms. "As long as the room is closed, we can put TB patients there, even in normal wards."
The World Health Organisation reported 9.2 million cases of TB in 2006, the latest figure available, which is an increase from 9.1 million cases the previous year.
It's not like they can be treated in a day or two. [To become non-infectious] they need to stay for three to four months."
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