Strategy council set up to implement Dubai Health Strategy

Dubai: A strategy council and an office for organisational transformation has been set up to facilitate the implementation of the Dubai Health Strategy 2016-2021 with 15 leaders appointed from the public and private sector to take charge of the strategy’s 15 programmes, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) revealed on Saturday.

Humaid Al Qutami, chairman of the Board and director-general of the DHA, said the aim of the authority is to ensure smooth implementation of the strategy and to see its successful completion by 2021. “In order to achieve this, we have put in place an executive office for organisational transformation, a strategy council and have appointed leaders from the public and private sector to oversee the implementation of the 15 programmes of the strategy.”

Al Qutami said the strategy is “extremely comprehensive” and in line with international best practices. He added that it was drafted after a clear understanding of the gaps and strengths of the current health sector in Dubai. “The strategy has 15 programmes, under which are 98 initiatives that we have divided into three waves — immediate, medium and long-term. As and when the initiatives are implemented, we will begin to see its positive impact on patients, health-care professionals, facilities and the overall health sector in Dubai.”

Al Qutami added that the strategy was designed after extensive stakeholder engagement including feedback and suggestions from 13,000 DHA staff members, the private sector, the public through social media channels and local government authorities.

Some of the key features of the strategy is the focus on prevention and healthy lifestyle, public health and safety, primary care, chronic disease management, private and public partnership and investment, improvement of governance of the health sector and medical tourism.

15 programmes

• Care model innovation

• Prevention and healthy lifestyle

• Primary care

• Dental care

• Mental and behavioural disorders

• Medical tourism

• Chronic disease management

• Excellence, quality and patient experience

• Centres of excellence including clinical research

• Workforce and medical education

• Governance