Dubai Health Authority’s annual statistic report for 2017 showed a significant growth in the number of physicians working in the emirate’s health sector.
The report revealed that the registered physicians in Dubai were 8,700 for 2017 — this is a 82.4 per cent increase from 2010.
The annual report published this year aims to aid in understanding the impact of the health services provided in Dubai and work towards their betterment.
It provides detailed information on the distribution of health conditions, diagnoses and procedures.
The report also aims to benefit policy and decision makers in the health field who rely on this data when allocating resources as it shows important health trends that help caregivers spot new developments, track and monitor the health status of the population over time.
Customer visits
According to the report, the authority received 2,014,012 customers in 2017, out of which 321,241 were Rashid Hospital customers, 381,334 visited Dubai Hospital, 149,640 visited Latifa hospital, 122,327 visited Hatta Hospital and 1,039,470 visited the authority’s 12 primary healthcare centres.
Surgeries
The number of surgical operations performed in DHA hospitals during 2017 was 26,000, with an average of 2,208 monthly operations. Major operations amounted to 13,771 and accounted to 52 per cent of surgeries. Rashid, Dubai, Latifa and Hatta Hospitals accounted for 30.4 per cent, 41.1 per cent, 25.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent of the total operations respectively.
Main surgeries include orthopaedic surgery (20.4 per cent), obstetrics and gynaecology (19.2 per cent) and general surgery (15.6per cent).
Outpatient visits and inpatient visits
The authority recorded 2,257,393 visits to its outpatient clinics, where Emirati nationals constituted 65.7 per cent of all outpatients visits, of which female nationals accounted to 51.8 per cent of the total national attendance.
Of the around 2.26 million outpatient clinic visits, DHA hospitals accounted to 42 per cent, 49.6 per cent were primary healthcare and 8.4 per cent took place at the authority’s specialised health centres with 8.4 per cent of the total attendance.
Meanwhile the report found there were 76,963 inpatient visits in 2017.
DHA dental centres
The total number of attendees in DHA dental clinics was 167,700 patients during 2017. The percentage of nationals was 86.2 per cent with women constituting about 59.3 per cent of the total. In 2017 about 181,228 treatments were provided through 15 dental clinics.
Medical fitness centres
Medical fitness is a mandatory requirement for all expats in the UAE. It is required for a residency, employment or education visa.
DHA has 17 medical fitness centres located across different parts of the emirate for issuance and renewal of medical fitness tests.
The authority’s 17 medical fitness centres performed 2,012,361 tests during 2017, performed through 17 centres.
It amounted to a 6 per cent increase over that of 2016. About half of these tests were performed in Al Muhaisnah (46.9 per cent) with an increase of 3.5 per cent over that of 2016.
Hospital beds
There are 2,193 hospital beds across DHA hospitals — 779 beds in Rashid Hospital, 678 in Dubai Hospital, 468 in Latifa Hospital and 118 in Hatta Hospital. The medical fitness centres in the emirate account for 66 beds.
