Private hospitals asked to receive emergency cases

Iman Abdullah

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has obligated all private hospitals operating in the emirate to receive the emergency medical cases carried by the Dubai Ambulance, including, emergency COVID-19 positive cases, suspected cases of COVID-19 with symptoms, and all other emergency cases such as stroke, heart attack and others.

In a circular directed to all licensed private hospitals in the emirate, the DHA appreciated the continuous support and cooperation provided by strategic partners in the private health sector in light of the current circumstances that require solidarity of capabilities and efforts of everyone to tackle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and curb its spread. “This decision comes to maintain the public health and to ensure safety of the procedures in force to deal with cases of coronavirus. It is based on the DHA’s regulations and the Law No. 14 of 2014 on combating communicable diseases, as well as the executive regulations issued in respect of No. 33 of 2016 and the Federal Law No. 4 of 2016 regarding the medical accountability,” the DHA said.

In case of lack of beds in a hospital receiving any of the aforementioned cases, it must provide the received case with the necessary medical aid, which ensures the stability of case, before coordinating to transfer the patient to another hospital that can deal with it, the DHA stated in the circular.

It also indicated that in the event that the case is a COVID-19, hospital should instantly proceed with stabilising the case following the guidelines applicable in this regard. In case it has no free beds, the hospital will then make the necessary contacts with other health facilities by the attending physician, to make sure they can receive the case depending on its condition.

“All documents of the facility’s treatment of the received case from the Dubai Ambulance and the medical procedures taken from the time of its receipt until transferring it to another hospital must be attested,” the circular added.

The DHA has further stressed that private hospitals and health professionals who work for them must adhere to the instructions mentioned in the circular, in order to avoid any penalties or fines that taken in this regard.

The Dubai Health Authority has established guidelines to transfer new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) between health facilities licensed by it in the emirate.

These regulations stipulate that private health facilities must adhere to the necessary preventive procedures when referring cases, whether suspected or confirmed cases of (COVID-19) to other health facilities.