With the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020 merely four years away from completion, which will help transform Dubai into a world-class, disabled-friendly city, the government of Dubai is rightly escalating the strategic implementation of policies, infrastructure and facilities for this segment of society. Among the many initiatives underway that will engineer their all-round inclusivity with the mainstream in terms of social profile, career opportunities and mobility support systems, was the announcement of the need to draft a health insurance programme for the disabled at the AccessAbilities event being held in Dubai.
Health insurance for every individual in society is one of the big building blocks of high-quality social welfare and the latter term attains its fullest meaning when it is all-encompassing.
Up until now, there have been no baseline health insurance schemes devised specifically for the disabled or people with special needs in Dubai. According to a study by Dubai’s Community Development Authority, the insurance, solutions and support available for people with disabilities has been found to be inadequate. This situation needs to be remedied as speedily as possible.
In the overall scheme of services for all, the disabled are as much entitled to be covered by health insurance as are other members of society. The government is doing well to address this lacunae systematically by first creating a database of disabled individuals in Dubai. This will form the bedrock of policy planning, enabling the implementation of health insurance for the disabled to be precise and efficient.
Dubai’s operating principle has always been the definition of standards that are linked to outcomes and in this matter too, the goalpost is now well within sight.
