Keeping pace with the growing population and the need to enhance specialised care, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has undertaken major expansion plans to provide high-quality medical services to the population and visitors
Humaid Al Qutami, director-general of the DHA, has inspected the progress of some of the under construction projects.
Al Qusais Primary Health Centre:
The new Al Qusais Centre will add to the network of 14 DHA primary healthcare centres (PHC's) in the Emirate. DHA has the largest number of internationally accredited primary healthcare centres. In addition to the Al Qusais Centre, which is expected to be completed by mid-2019, DHA will also complete construction of two new PHC's- Umm Suqeim and Abu Hail by the end of 2019.
The centre will cater to the medical needs of the community and provide a wide range of health services including child health, family medicine, chronic disease clinics, ENT services and it will have a modern radiology department.
Nearly 500,000 residents visited the primary health care centres in 2017 just for consultation in family medicine alone.
Al Qutami highlighted that primary healthcare is frontline care and the DHA focuses on providing a wide range of medical services at the level of PHC's to ensure easy access to care, regular follow-up care and to inculcate the concept of preventive care.
The specialities at the centres include family medicine, radiology, childcare, gynaecology, paediatrics, dermatology, nutrition, dentistry, chronic diseases, pre-marital testing, pharmaceutical services, and intermediate level urgent cases.
They also provide additional services such as home care services, community health services such as anti-smoking clinics and they offer a range of screening packages as part of their preventive outreach and educational health programmes.
Since 2015, two DHA centres-Al Barsha and Nad Al Hammar have been providing round-the-clock services and offer urgent medical care so that only emergency cases need to be seen in a hospital setting.
Seniors' Happiness Centre:
The Seniors' Happiness Centre is the sole centre for the elderly in the emirate; it provides a host of in-patient and outpatient geriatric and rehabilitation services.
Al Qutami said that the DHA is focused on providing high-quality geriatric care to its population and along with high-quality care, the aim of this centre is to provide a stimulating, positive and motivating environment and promote interaction with family members and the community through common areas such as the Majlis.
As per 2017 statistics, the percentage of Emiratis above the age of 60 years, in the UAE is 7 per cent; this percentage is expected to reach 11 per cent in 2032 and 19 per cent in 2050.
The Centre was established in 1993 and presently it has 24 inpatients and 240 outpatients.
Long-Term Care Centre:
This centre will be located the Seniors' Happiness Centre complex. The 120-bed centre will cater to the needs of long-term care patients and will provide them with a positive environment to promote healing.
