Dubai Health Authority opens state of the art Haematology Unit

Dubai: Dubai Health Authority (DHA) opened a new state-of-the-art haematology unit in Dubai Hospital to treat patients with blood related disorders.

The new unit was inaugurated on Monday by Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, director-general of DHA, in aim of providing treatment for a broad spectrum of disorders of the blood cells, anaemia, leukaemia and bleeding disorders.

“This unit was previously a four bed unit in Rashid Hospital. We decided to expand haematological services and thus we opened a 20 bed state-of-the-art dedicated haematology unit at Dubai Hospital to serve the needs of patients with all kinds of blood disorders.” said Al Murooshid.

The 20 bed unit consists of eight beds for outpatient services and four beds are dedicated for positive pressure rooms as well as a dedicated full-time social worker who provides psychological and social support to patients.

Dr Ahmad Hamed Abdullah Al Rustamani, Head of the Haematology Unit at Dubai Hospital, said: “The unit was built in 14 months after undertaking a capacity study and closely looking into the requirements of our patients and the actual construction process.”

We provide inpatient services for chronic cases and we also have in place four positive pressure rooms which help protect patients with low immunity from acquiring infections, which helps achieve improved patient outcomes. Usually patients with a chronic haematological disorder require this room.” He added.

Rustamani also stated that most common form of malignant blood disorders in adults is myeloid leukaemia, while the lymphocytic leukaemia is more common in children. Other premalignant blood disorders include failure of bone marrow production.

“Patients who have undergone bone marrow transplantation are prone to complications such as Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which is a chronic condition that our unit helps manage,” said Rustamani.

Rustamani said that last year the unit received 25 new cases of rare cancers. He said since 2007, the unit received 110 cases of acute leukaemia. Of these cases, 76 per cent were acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and the remaining 24 per cent were other kinds of leukaemia. In addition, the unit also received cases of other haematological conditions.

He added that the department regularly takes part in international studies which are focused on new cures, treatment methods and research on leukaemia and other hematological disorders.