ABU DHABI A specialised private hospital offering intensive long term rehabilitation has opened in Abu Dhabi.
Amana Healthcare caters to patients with disabilities caused by strokes, head injuries, trauma, surgeries or severe illness.
Located in Khalifa City A, the 80-bed hospital is Amana’s second such facility. A similar centre was opened in Al Ain three years ago.
“A conventional or acute care hospital offers immediate care. But here we have a long term rehabilitation programme to help patients resume a normal life,” said Amana Healthcare director Peyvand Khaleghian.
Treatment plan
“Our treatment plan is like a tailor-made boot camp and covers a wide range of therapy techniques from rehab to home transition and follow-ups,” said Khaleghian.
Depending on their condition, patients receive three to five hours of daily hands on therapy from a range of disciplines such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and so on.
The hospital has 80 private rooms, 16 VIP rooms, two specialised gyms, large hydrotherapy pool and two landscaped therapy gardens. It also has four Arabic majlis areas where patients can interact with their families.
Special rehab rooms help patients perform daily activities like dressing up, cooking, using wheelchairs and improving motor and sensory skills.
“Our aim is to make them independent so that they don’t become a burden on their families. We help them integrate back into their family, work and community,” said Helen Holdroyd, stroke coordinator at Amana.
One such patient is Emirati armyman Mohammad Tamim Al Kitbi who was on life support and paralysed after a stroke.
“I never thought I would be able to walk or even talk But 72 days at the Centre and I am back to leading a normal life,” said the father of three girls.
Al Kitbi said now he can even drive his children to school.
The hospital is the first healthcare provider in the UAE to be designated as a member of the National Stroke Association’s Stroke Center Network (SCN).
A cornerstone programme of the US based National Stroke Association since 1996, SCN is an alliance of organisations committed to developing centers of excellence for acute and rehabilitative stroke care.
Its members represent stroke centers in the US, Australia and Saudi Arabia, at all stages of development and size.
Hashemi, one of the directors of Amana Healthcare, said patients in the UAE do not have to travel abroad to seek world-class rehabilitation
“With the establishment of this facility, we hope to o provide faster access to care, reduce the need to send patients overseas and alleviate the pressure on acute care beds,” he said.
