The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched the Salem medical fitness and occupational screening system last week while inaugurating the Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) Medical Fitness Centre.
The new system, integrated into all medical fitness centres in Dubai will reduce waiting time, minimise human intervention to almost zero and make blood test and X-ray results available electronically.
The move is important given the number of people who require medical fitness services. In 2015, 2,051,802 visited Dubai-Health-Authority-run medical fitness centres, of which 843,085 were new applicants and the remaining were visa renewals. Medical fitness screening is mandatory for expats in the UAE, being a prerequisite for a residency, employment or education visa.
The event was attended by His Excellency Humaid Al Qutami, Chairman of the Board and Director General of the DHA, Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Marri, Director General of General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai (GDRFA-D) and a number of officials.
Al Qutami said the new smart system is in line with the Dubai 2021 strategy and the Authority’s smart health initiatives that aim to provide added convenience and quicker processing times.
Maisa Al Bustani, Director of Medical Fitness Services Department at DHA added that Salem is integrated with the GDRFA-D. “Once the screening procedures are completed, the applicant will receive a SMS notification alert and we will send the results electronically via an email.
She added that the DHA had also started streamlining medical fitness services to make service centres a one-stop shop for customers. So far, 65 service centres (35 of which are Tasheel Centres) located both within DHA’s medical fitness centres and external ones are now accredited and authorised to provide services. Al Bustani said with the new system, customers do not need any papers as data could be retrieved from GDRFA.
“Companies with employees above 50 do not need to go through service centres as we provide them with unique usernames and passwords so that they can directly fill the applications online using the system.
“Individuals and companies with less than 50 employees need to go through service centres to fill out their application for visa issuance and renewal. They can log onto the DHA website to find a list of accredited typing centres, available on the premises of most medical fitness centres.
Commenting on the launch of the new JLT medical fitness centre, Al Bustani said the centre can meet the needs of 5,000-plus customers per day.
