Joint committee to work on restructuring and improving Dubai’s health sector

The Executive Council for Dubai, together with the Health Department, the Department of Medical Services, announced today that a joint-committee had been formed to lay out together the groundwork for restructuring Dubai’s health sector. This initiative comes within the Dubai Strategy that was launched recently by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. In the strategy, the health sector is instructed to develop its services in order to further improve the quality of life and ensure a safe and healthy existence to all members of the community. This committee, that also includes leading consultants in this field, will primarily identify the final vision of an enhanced health sector that caters to the community’s medical needs, and develop a comprehensive plan that guarantees that this vision is reached. Some of the important tasks that this team will be responsible for include; improving the quality of health and medical services to meet global standards, ensuring access to affordable healthcare for all members of the community, as well as increasing public health-awareness and putting together the public health plan.The committee will also work on establishing the different operating and training processes for medical centres, regulated the production and import of foods and drugs, and aiding public and private sector companies in implementing employee health-awareness and healthcare programmesFurthermore, plans to adopt a unified health insurance system – one that includes UAE nationals and expatriate residents alike - are also underway. These plans aim to place the public health sector’s global standards of healthcare in the same league, if not higher, than the those of the private sector.The final vision and plans are being finalized and will be announced by the committee within the next few weeks.