UAE | Health

No worker pre-visa tests at Satwa clinic

Oldest medical centre in Dubai stops accepting applications for medical fitness reports

By Aghaddir Ali, Staff Reporter
Published: 00:00 June 30, 2011

Image Credit: Francois Nel/Gulf News Archive
Residency and work visa applicants await their turn for medical tests at the primary health care centre in Satwa.

Dubai: The oldest medical centre in Dubai, the Satwa Medical Centre, has stopped accepting applications for medical fitness reports from workers in view of the growing rush at the centre in recent years.

The centre has instead been re-designated to certify families and women besides catering to urgent cases, said Maisa Al Bustani, director of the medical fitness section at the Dubai Health Authority.

"The centre used to receive a huge number of people including labourers and domestic workers who apply for medical fitness certificates," Al Bustani said.

She said Al Satwa Centre will now conduct medical fitness tests only for families and ladies. The centre will also offer fast-track medical fitness services.

New facility

Al Bustani said a large number of applicants visiting the Satwa centre were directed to other centres. "But there are some difficult clients who prefer to wait here. We would like them to be more cooperative," she said.

The Dubai Health Authority has announced that labourers who wish to obtain their medical fitness test will now have to go to the newly opened Al Quoz centre, instead of the Al Satwa clinic.

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"The new facility at Al Quoz is designated for labourers because of its proximty to their workplace and the waiting space it has to allow them to wait for the procedure comfortably. The centre has 150 chairs in the waiting area as compared with 50 chairs in the waiting area in Al Satwa," Al Bustani said.

Secondly, she said, the move will also ease the rush at Al Satwa centre which has always been a nodal centre — being among the oldest medical centres in Dubai.

"The move will also ensure we provide privacy for ladies and families who visit the Al Satwa Centre." Al Bustani explained.

Timings

The Al Satwa centre will be open from 7 am to 9 pm and will accept 500 clients during the morning shift (from 7am to 2:30pm) and 300 in the evening shift (2:30 pm to 9pm).

The new clinic in Al Quoz Industrial Area 3 will accept more than 600 clients per day and will be open from 8 am to 5 pm.

Al Bustani clarified that the changes with respect to categories of visa applicants who can visit health centres is only applicable to the clinic in Al Satwa and that all the other centres will continue to function as is. For instance, labourers still have the option of visiting the 24-hour Al Muhaisnah centre.

Presently, the DHA has a total of 15 certification clinics, including centres in DIFC, Al Safa, Al Mankhool, Al Khawaneej, Al Twar and Airport Centre.

Al Bustani added that the DHA is continuing with an expansion project in terms of medical fitness centres. The next in the pipeline is the Al Karama centre which will open shortly. Al Bustani added that in addition to this, there are two more ongoing projects which will be opened in the near future. "Over the last few years, we have constantly added new branches in different areas of the emirate of Dubai."

The fitness certification clinics also offer tailormade services. For instance, all customers who wish to avail of the VIP medical fitness services can approach the express counters at DHA centres.

In addition to the fast-track services at all DHA health centres, the DHA has recently started the Tawajod service, which offers corporate employees services at home or office.