Dubai’s tackling of COVID-19 indeed impressive

Dubai has added another honour to its cap, that too at an international level. Its health body’s efforts to combat the virus on a war footing have been feted by an international body.

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has been recognised at the International Hospital Federation’s Beyond the Call of Duty for COVID-19 Programme for its COVID-19 response action plan along with over 100 hospitals from 28 countries.

DHA received the recognition badge after a thorough review of an international review committee consisting of 16 industry experts from the healthcare industry.

The UAE has, for months, been battening down the hatches against the coronavirus.

And it has succeeded in keeping the casualty tally low: at less than 700. The total number of recoveries have amounted to 175,865.

The Dubai Shield Programme was recognised at the Beyond the Call of Duty for COVID-19 Programme for proactively responding with outstanding and innovative actions in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, DHA’s hospitals - Rashid and Latifa Hospital for Women and Children were recognised for their outstanding COVID-19 response action plan.

The DHA’s Dubai Shield Programme was a proactive and swift measure implemented as early as January 2020 to swing into quick action to increase capacity, and minimise the community spread of COVID-19.

DHA laid the groundwork for an aggressive system to fight the virus as early as January 2020 and it formulated its pioneering Dubai Shield Programme (DSP).

Under the Dubai Shield Programme, DHA successfully increased the city’s testing capacity to 80,000 tests per day. By using prefabricated modular materials, the DHA was able to build new healthcare facilities within just 60 days, whereas such projects would typically take seven months to complete.

The DHA also paid particular attention to ensure that critical care services were not interrupted.  A key enabler towards DHA’s continuity of care was the Doctor for Every Citizen (DFEC), which DHA had launched in December 2019.

DFEC provides 24/7 medical consultancy services focusing mainly on patients at highest risk of exposure including the elderly and chronic disease patients. Compared to 877 beneficiaries by Feb.2020, DFEC benefited more than 60,000 patients.

The Dubai Shield Programme also implemented a real-time communicable disease management system known as the Hasana Project. It provides a unified system that connects public and private healthcare facilities, allowing the authorities to better control and mitigate the spread of diseases.

Rashid Hospital was the first hospital in the UAE and in GCC to admit and manage COVID-19 patients. To deal with the influx of patients, the hospital immediately rolled out infection control measures and rapidly increased bed capacity.

Latifa Hospital for Women and Children swiftly underwent extensive remodelling of units and reallocation of staff to care for COVID-19 patients. The staff remained resolute in the face of uncertainty and fear. The readiness of the nation’s health sector and its success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic will contribute to effectively accelerating the recovery of the health tourism sector, said a high-level official.

Mohamed Al Mheiri, Director of Health Tourism Department at the DHA, said that all concerned stakeholders are taking preventive measures to enhance the safety and well-being of the community and maintain health security.

It therefore should not come as a surprise that the UAE has ranked number one in the Middle East region and 14th globally in terms of COVID-19 handling, according to a survey released by the UK’s Global Soft Power Index. The survey ranked 105 countries in the world based on the assessment of tens of thousands of people. The sacrifice of the UAE healthcare personnel has paid off: the pandemic was controlled across the country.

No wonder international health tourists have reposed a lot of confidence in the UAE.