Month: May 2015

29/05/2015

Doubtless; the recent decision of the Cabinet to set up a national unified database for all medical registers for the sick – via e-linkage among public sector and private sector hospitals reporting to either the Ministry of Health or the Health Authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the Emirates Identity Authority – will serve the government’s policy of strengthening relations among institutions. The e-linkage will be established by using the ID card in the provision of government services and adopting the unique ID number as the unified number for updating patients’ data.

The decision is in sync with the UAE’s efforts to establish a national health care system on par with the global standards as per the UAE Vision 2021. This is in order to strengthen the competitive edge of the country in health care and enhance its global ranking as per the performance indicators of health systems according to the World Health Organization. As of now, the UAE enjoys the 27^th ranking globally in the WHO assessment.

The decision came at the same time as the announcement of the government’s smart transition in regard to government services reaching 96.3% with 331 services provided to the public on a daily basis having been made ‘smart’. It is a significant step in the UAE’s efforts to keep pace with global changes by relying on technology and smart applications for purposes of improving the quality of life for the people.

The decision is expected to improve the medical services provided to the patients as it would make it easier for them to receive suitable treatment as it ensures easy access to their illness history right up to their family background.

Another important advantage of the decision is that it will create a national database of genetically transmitted diseases endemic to the country, making it easier for the concerned authorities in the country to conduct studies and research about them and to adopt policies as well as preventive and curative programs for the prevalent diseases in the local community, besides putting in place mechanisms and strategies suitable for enhancing the performance of medical institutions in general.

The new system will also reduce the cost of treatment individually and institutionally through reduction in average cost of medical tests and the utilization of the available data for purposes of medical research.

The enhancement of performance in the medical sector in the UAE is sure to improve the position of the country in the world map for medical tourism. This will also strengthen various other components of the whole process, such as government spending on the health sector, the infrastructure of the sector and medical projects with qualitative importance such as the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.  This is in addition to the several medical legislations that the country adopted and its effort to enhance the standards for medical practices, such as the launch of the initiatives ‘the UAE Board’ and the decision to approve mobile health care to provide medical services to those who are unable to visit the hospitals such as the elderly living in remote areas. This is aimed at executing the UAE strategy of guaranteeing the right of every individual in the UAE society to receive basic and comprehensive medical care to the best standards and of giving care to the special needs people.

These intensive efforts are integral to a comprehensive development perspective that the UAE has adopted in order to make the standard of living in the UAE society one of the best in the world in various walks of life.

26/05/2015

The most important prayer that emanates from your heart is for Allah to grant those who you love full health and a long life.

And the most important thing you can do to any human being is to extent him a helping hand when he faces health problems.

“The health of our citizens and those who live amidst us in our country is our priority,” said HH Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

As such, an integrated health system on par with global specifications will be set up, including a national health database register that will include all those who visit government and private hospitals, with each patient having a unique number to identify him in whichever hospital in the UAE he visits. This number will be his password using which his doctor will access his health file.

The ID number is the medical key which will enable all doctors to access the files of the patients and understand the views of other doctors about their health conditions.

It is important for everyone to know how to utilize the technological development to serve him, facilitate work and save time.

The important thing about health files is to avoid errors committed by doctors and reduce the confusion felt by the patient. Whenever a patient is referred by a doctor to a hospital, he is forced to undergo the same tests that he had just got done days or weeks before.

The new development is bound to limit wastage of time and money for the patients, as well as the pain of carrying numerous files from one hospital to another as if he was starting a new treatment process from point zero. It is important for any hospital to accept the test results from another.

The country now wants to link the medical files to the development it is witnessing all around, and to offer a helping hand and a sense of happiness and comfort. Its eyes are fixed also on the world outside to extend medical and humanitarian help for those who need it. Today, it is carrying to the UAE the injured and affected families from Yemen and other regions suffering from devastation and plunder at the hands of the Houthis in order to provide them treatment in the hospitals here.

What the UAE is now doing for Yemen is nothing new. It is the same country that entered Palestine, particularly the besieged Gaza. It is the same country that sets sail towards any country near or far whose people need help as a result of catastrophes or wars.

It is a country that strives to extend to others the advanced health care and services that its people and residents enjoy.

 

14/05/2015

I continue to suffer from many complexes and search for my identity all the time. Is it more appropriate for me to belong to the sea or the land? At times I visit the animal farms run by my friends in the Western Region and feel I am actually here. At other times, I go into the sea in Ajman with my friends and feel I belong there. Last Friday, my friend in the Coast Guard refused to go into the sea along with the group of friends under any circumstance. No amount of cajoling would make him budge an inch and made it clear his was the final decision. Whoever does not carry the ID card would not venture into the sea, he ruled. The Law is supreme!

You know that your ID card carries your beautiful picture and you use it for many things. I wish its use could be further expanded to include everything in life. I wish a day will come on which we do not carry our driver’s licenses, car ownership card, health card, library card from Sharjah Library, access card for parks, exchange card from Western Union and thousands of other cards we carry. Before I forget, let me add the ATM card as well……They are an organization that works. It is said they have a wonderful workforce that is beautiful, quick in service delivery and excellent in performance. They have air-conditioned buildings offering Wi-Fi service too!

The point is that many government departments do not let you enter nowadays without producing your ID card at the entrance. Frankly, I don’t know if it is legal but it happens. Naturally, it is great that your meeting inside a government department is fruitful. So you rush out, spread the news among your partners and later realize you had left your ID at the entrance! After five meetings daily throughout the week for a period of a whole month, you don’t remember in which department you left your ID. Returning to all of those departments and enquiring after your ID as if you are a child who lost its toy is a trifle embarrassing: is my identity here? Does the picture not resemble me? I swear it is me. I know my granddad’s name is weird! It had derived from a species of peregrines….feign ignorance about what you don’t know!

Keeping the ID then becomes the duty of an employee in that department, who over time begins to feel you are late to take it back. He tries to call you or look for your number but finally returns it to the Authority which delivers it back to you. Of course it is a favor from them. There is another type who leaves your ID in his shelf until it gathers rust and you discover you had lost it while you are at the border crossing in Khatm Al Mallaha. You will definitely be forced to return home. Good right?!

It will not please anyone to be in that situation, except for the fish ‘Hamour’ that escaped from the iron grip. (That is my name in the sea). It will be nice of the government entities and the Identity Authority to put in place some mechanism to return the ID cards to their owners. This is particularly so if they are planning to expand the use of the card.

May you be healthy. By the way, how much for card replacement?