UAE | Health
Expert warns against US healthcare model
The UAE risks making the same healthcare mistakes as the US if it continues to put an emphasis on specialties without giving an equal boost to primary healthcare, warned an international organisation of family physicians.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:45 February 14, 2008
- Dr Richard Roberts, president-elect of the World Organisation of National Colleges, Academies, and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians.
- Image Credit: Nina Muslim/Gulf News
Dubai: The UAE risks making the same healthcare mistakes as the US if it continues to put an emphasis on specialties without giving an equal boost to primary healthcare, warned an international organisation of family physicians.
The UAE is in the process of restructuring its healthcare system, focusing on adding more specialties through cooperation with renowned medical facilities in the US, such as Harvard Medical School, Cleveland Clinic and John Hopkins Hospital.
Dr Richard Roberts, president-elect of the World Organisation of National Colleges, Academies, and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians [Wonca], told Gulf News after their board meeting here that the UAE needed to put an emphasis on primary care, instead of just on specialised care.
"The UAE is making the same mistakes as the US, listening to [the likes of] Harvard and Cleveland Clinic. It's like a nuclear arms race. Everybody will be trying to top everybody with their special this and special that," he said.
The current US healthcare emphasis on specialties has taken its toll on Americans' health, as many do not have access to healthcare, he added.
Many would delay getting beneficial screenings until their disease has progressed to the point where treatment is expensive and the chance of survival is lower.
"It's not that our healthcare is not good, but when people come in too late ... everything gets too expensive," said Dr Roberts, who comes from Wisconsin.
The US General Accountability Office said Tuesday fewer Americans were going into primary care. The country also ranked worst out of 19 industrialised nations surveyed in preventing deaths due to treatable conditions, published in the journal of Health Affairs last month.
Professor Chris Van Weel, Wonca president, said primary care, often overlooked, was important as it was the branch that treated the person as a whole.
"If people go to specialists, separate symptoms will have separate doctors," he said. "Family medicine has linkages between all diseases."
UAE health officials have long stated the need to strengthen the primary care system, which has always taken a backseat to medical specialties.
The Ministry of Health included in their 2008-2010 health strategy Tuesday a plan to make primary healthcare centres more easily accessible to patients.
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