Dubai: Confusion prevailed among customers seeking occupational health cards in Dubai on Sunday, the first working day after authorities announced shifting of occupational health services from Dubai Municipality to Dubai Health Authority (DHA) on Thursday.
Gulf News had first reported that the clinics under Public Health Services Department of Dubai Municipality (DM) would discontinue medical tests for occupational health cards, medical fitness and free of diseases certificates required for employment visas of various categories of employees from Sunday.
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According to Zubaida Mohammad Sherif, the head of clinic and medical services section at the department, DM clinics in Deira and Warsan used to receive 1,000 to 1,500 customers every day, the majority of whom used to come for occupational health cards for employment.
Occupational health cards are issued to food handlers at all types of food establishments, salon workers, beauticians, barbers, staff with nurseries and kindergarten, employees of health clubs, fitness centres and spas etc to certify that they are free of certain infectious diseases apart from the ones tested during the medical screening for residency visas.
“All these categories of workers and those who were seeking ‘fit to work’ or ‘disease-free’ certificates from us now need to go to DHA facilities as an agreement between DHA and DM allowing the civic body to continue these medical services has come to an end. Now, our clinics will only complete the already pending applications till the end of October,” Sherif told Gulf News on Sunday.
Dubai Municipality decided to discontinue receiving new requests for health cards starting from next Sunday.https://t.co/Aztp1SYqPe pic.twitter.com/5aVUEcaxhj— بلدية دبي (@DMunicipality) August 24, 2017
The announcement about the abrupt stoppage of the services, however, caught several people unaware of the change in rules.
Several customers, mainly company PROs and new job recruits, had to take trips between municipality clinics and DHA medical fitness centres following the confusion, Gulf News learnt after visiting the municipality’s main clinic in Deira.
“When I came here at 7.30am, the typing centre guys told me that they are unable to process the application in the system,” U. Mohammad Rafiq, a PRO with the Thumbay Hospital Group told Gulf News.
“They asked me to check inside at the information counter of the clinic. The guy over there asked me to go to DHA medical fitness centre in Muhaisnah. I went there and they sent me back here saying they have no idea about it. So I am back here and even now I have no clue where to go for this service,” he said at around 11.30am.
Another PRO, who did not wish to be named, said the lack of proper information from both the entities in the change of service put him also in trouble. “I have dozens of applications to be submitted. It is not clear which DHA centres are accepting this and which typing centres we can go for it as DHA has also limited their services to certain typing centres,” he said.
Apart from announcing the change in service through its social media accounts, Sherif said, that the municipality had also sent SMS notifications to PROs through its database.
New centres named
A DHA spokesperson told Gulf News that the authority had also announced that all those who require occupational health cards for residence visa can now go to three preventive health check-up centres.
These are Uptown Occupational Health Screening Centre, Mirdif, Jumeirah Lake Tower Medical Screening Centre and Jebel Ali Medical Fitness Centre.
“The DHA has announced these centres over its social media platform and those requiring the occupational health cards, such a food handlers, beauty salon workers and other categories, can go to these centres during the normal office hours for their tests,” added the DHA official.
Sherif said the municipality clinics would continue to offer free treatment for labourers working with the civic body. She clarified that the employees of the clinics would be retained as the treatment services would be extended to workers from outside the municipality as well.
“We will tie up with insurance companies to start providing treatment services for other labourers as well. We will also continue the annual medical check-up provided to DM employees working in hazardous fields,” she added.
Typing centres affected
Dozens of typing centres located around Dubai Municipality’s clinics have been affected by the change, employees of typing centres said.
“Almost 90-95 per cent of our business was related to occupational health cards. We got to know about the stoppage of this service in DM clinics on Wednesday only. We have no idea how we can survive now,” said an employee of one of the typing centres.
Another employee with another centre said dozens of typing centres near the municipality clinic in Deira will face closure as they will not meet the criteria for providing the service to DHA.
According to typing centres, the new requirements, announced earlier this year by the authority, include a new electronic system, a deposit amount, and a minimum space requirement, among others.
With inputs from Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary, Senior Reporter
