The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has chalked out a detailed health strategy for the emirate, which includes construction of three new hospitals and 40 primary healthcare centres across key areas.

The plan includes the Dh3 billion ($816 million) Rashid Hospital featuring six new specialised health centres, one four-star and another five-star hotel, villas and flats for staff accommodation, a mosque, lake way and landscaping and open spaces for children and families, said Essa Al Maidoor, director-general of DHA.

He was addressing employees of the DHA explaining in detail the vision of the Dubai Health Strategy 2013-2025, which was recently approved by Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

“The strategy has been chalked out talking into consideration the expected population growth of Dubai across the various geographical areas of the emirate,” Al Maidoor said.

“Access to healthcare is a priority and the new projects are in line with our strategy to have hospitals within the radius of 8 to 12 kilometres from all catchments areas and health centres to be within 3 to 5 kilo meters of all catchment areas.”

The strategy has 17 operational goals and will be delivered through 43 initiatives backed by an enhanced control plan and Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

“The expansion plans have been designed to provide state-of-the-art services to the population of Dubai as well as visitors who come to the emirate for medical tourism,” Al Maidoor said.

“The expansion plans not only fulfill the main criteria of provision of excellent healthcare facilities and health infrastructure but also taken into consideration landscaping, leisure activities, hotel accommodation for medical tourists, staff accommodation etc. All these aspects ensure we have taken a 360 degrees view of the requirements of patients, their families, staff members and medical tourists.”

Al Maidoor said that three new hospitals will be build: Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Hospital, Al Maktoum Hospital in Jebel Ali’s Al Maktoum Airport area, and Al Khawaneej Hospital.

Al Maktoum and Al Khawaneej Hospital will be located along the major roads of Dubai such as Sheikh Zayed Road, while Rashid Hospital will be rebuilt along with its adjoining area.

Al Maidoor said: “Each of Rashid Hospital’s three towers will be seven storied and will have 300 beds- bringing the total capacity to 900 beds. A covered car parking area that can accommodate 4000 cars will be connected to the hospital. The area will also have a mall with a walkway that has a string of coffee shops, utility stores, flower shops, etc. The towers will have six VIP rooms and seven royal suites.”

He said the construction area for the hospital is 100,000 sq m and the entire master plan will be built using green building standards.

“Within the Rashid Hospital master plan, six new specialised centres of healthcare will be constructed. This includes day-care surgery, oncology, ophthalmology, haematology etc.,” Al Maidoor said.

He confirmed that within the next two years, the Dubai Health Authority will complete the expansion of Rashid Hospital’s trauma and emergency centre.

“The trauma and emergency centre provides excellent levels of care for trauma and poly trauma patients. The two-year expansion plan is being built on the concept of  pre engineered buildings- which means the Trauma centre will continue to function as usual and at the same time the expansion work will be ongoing. The walls will be manufactured in advance and will be installed directly onsite.”

He said the expansion will add 160 beds and 116 treatment rooms to the trauma centre.

Rehabilitation centre, hotels and lake way

The master plan includes construction of state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre that can accommodate 500 beds. The rehabilitation area will have a covered parking facility that can accommodate 2500 cars. On each side of the rehab centre, a hotel will be constructed- one five-star and another four-star that will have a total capacity of 1000 rooms. The five-star hotel will also have 20 chalets.

“Patients who come for rehabilitation and do not need hospitalization can stay in the hotels itself. The area will be beautifully landscaped with a lake way,” said Al Maidoor.

Al Maidoor said: “An area will be dedicated for shops and offices. The souk or market place will be conveniently located from the main hospital, the rehabilitation centre and staff housing.” The souk will have 150 shops and 200 flats for commercial and residential purposes.

Al Maidoor said: “Staff housing will accommodate 5,400 families- doctors, nurses and technicians. In addition we will construct an additional 120 villas for specialists. There will be ample greenery and play areas that we are specifically designing for children and families.”

The trauma and emergency centre provides excellent levels of care for trauma and poly trauma patients. The two-year expansion plan is being built on the concept of  pre-engineered buildings- which means the Trauma centre will continue to function as usual and at the same time the expansion work will be ongoing.

To facilitate regular interaction with the members of the elderly centre and the community, the expansion project will include a heritage market with coffee shops and traditional fanfare activities and a mosque. The mosque will have a capacity for 150 worshippers.

The Dubai Diagnostic Centre will be built with the latest technology and international standards, Al Maidoor said.

Centre will be linked to 5000 diagnostic centres in the world and will be able to exchange state-of-the-art information on the latest in diagnostic services.

DHA customer service index

A new customer service measurement mechanism known as the DHA customer service index will evaluate services provided to the customers, Al Maidoor said.

He added: “Build on the lines of the concept of the index - the customer service mechanism has two bars- red and green. Green signified satisfaction and red signifies dissatisfaction.”

“The screen is for all to see and changes every 30 seconds. It will be implemented across all the DHA hospitals and primary healthcare centres and the DHA headquarters will have an area where all these screens are displayed and customer satisfaction can be viewed in real time.

“Customer feedback will be received at the end of the service channel, which means registration, service provision, procurement of medicines from the pharmacy are all steps which will be evaluated,” he noted. – TradeArabia News Service