Dubai: Thousands of students in Dubai schools will receive systematic immunisation to completely manage the surveillance, outbreak and prevention of the spread of communicable diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella and so on.

As part of a comprehensive school health policy, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) on Tuesday launched Hasana, an integrated electronic public health system for disease surveillance and management. The system will integrate all DHA and private health facilities in Dubai to provide a single immunisation record for each individual in all health facilities in Dubai.

The Hasana system will be used by all public health providers in Dubai — government and private — such as schools, hospitals and clinics to manage immunisation, investigation and outbreaks. This system will plan and deliver mass immunisation campaigns in schools and provide all 281,577 private school students in Dubai with immunisation records.

As many as 1,511 students are expected to be vaccinated in the current phase of the campaign that started on April 22 and ends on May 16. The total number of students to be vaccinated by the end of the 2018 academic year is 23,158.

Hasana will also improve the productivity of the health care staff allowing the providers to direct their efforts fully to patient care and provide a smart application to manage and administer mass school immunisation campaigns.

The parents of a child living in Dubai will be able to view the child’s vaccination schedule from their mobile phones, get reminders when their child is due for next vaccination by using Tifli mobile application, hence ensuring that they won’t be immunised multiple times and that they are safe from communicable diseases, Dr Manal Taryam, CEO of Primary Health Care Sector, explained.

Children will also not have to worry about losing their consent forms while nurses will no longer carry papers and logbooks during immunisation campaigns, use a scanner to send documents to DHA and lose consent forms or receipts.

Amani Al Jasmi, director of IT at the DHA, said this disease surveillance management system will integrate all DHA and private health facilities in Dubai, providing a single immunisation record for each client in all health facilities in Dubai and a robust system to manage and contain the spread of communicable diseases.

Following its launch, Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, chairman of the Board and director-general of the DHA, said Hasana is an important addition to the overall projects and initiatives implemented by the DHA to preserve the health and life of the members of society and to reach a healthier and happier society.

Dr Taryam said the system will support DHA’s strategy by seamlessly integrating government and private health facilities and partners enabling all of them to access the same immunisation data and ensure complete and high quality care for all.

It will also equip decision makers in Dubai with the necessary tools to prevent, detect, and manage the outbreak of communicable diseases in an efficient manner, thereby allowing better planning of resources and manpower and allocating them where there is pressing needs, she added.

What is Hasana

■ It is an integrated electronic public health system for disease surveillance and management. It will integrate all DHA and private health facilities in Dubai to provide a single immunisation record for each individual in all health facilities in Dubai.

MAIN MODULES

Immunisation management: Schedules and eligibility, planning, adverse effects, mass vaccination campaigns.

Outbreak management: Prevention, monitoring and analysis of cases.

Investigation management: Identification, investigation, tracking clinical data, including symptoms, complications, outcomes, interventions and treatment.

FIRST PHASE OF SCHOOL IMMUNISATION CAMPAIGN

1,511
Private school students targeted for vaccination from April 22 to May 16


28,158
Students expected to be vaccinated by the end of 2018 academic year

196
Private schools in Dubai

281,577
Students in Dubai private schools

16
Health unit teams involved

202
doctors

378
Nurses