Dubai: The Health Regulation Sector of Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has issued updated standards for Day Surgical Centres (DSC) in line with international best practices.
The standards have been developed by the Health Policies and Standards Department within the DHA’s Health Regulation Sector to enhance patient safety.
Dr Marwan Al Mulla, CEO of Health Regulation Sector, said the standards fall under four major categories: health facility, health professionals, service provision, and reporting and inspection.
Al Mulla added that recently all DSCs were mandated to ensure they are internationally accredited. Currently, 97 per cent of all hospitals in Dubai are internationally accredited.
Under the health facilities standard, DSC licenses will now be in four categories: A, B, C-M and C. This means each type of DSC will have restrictions to the type of anaesthesia/sedation medication it can hold and services it can provide. Only DSC category C can provide general anaesthesia, for example.
DSCs will only be allowed to take up non-emergency cases. They are also required to have in place emergency transfer arrangements that are in line with Dubai ambulance emergency targets.
For the second category (health professionals), Al Mulla said all health professionals at the DSC should be either consultants or specialists. Centres under the B, C-M and C category should always have an anaesthesiologist present during the surgery.
All physicians and anaesthetists (and nurses) engaged in surgery are required to have up-to-date hands on/practical Advanced Life Support or Cardiac Advanced Life Support or Paediatrics Advanced Life Support Certification as per the scope of services. They must perform a minimum number of procedures per year to maintain competency in their field.
Similarly, the other categories have their own specific requirements.
Al Mulla said the sector has developed 20 key performance indicators and the DSCs will be evaluated against these benchmarks every three months.
