Keeping healthcare on the move to good effect

The use of mobile clinics in the UAE to conduct vaccination drives should be taken into account and lauded. The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (mbru), in collaboration with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), announced that it has begun conducting COVID-19 vaccination campaigns across the city through mobile clinics deployed as part of the Wellness on Wheels (WoW) initiative.

A total of two ‘WoW’ mobile clinics, staffed by 11 nurses and doctors from DHA along with staff from MBRU, have started administering doses of DHA approved vaccines across 11 vaccination points. The move is in line with Dubai’s efforts to vaccinate 100 per cent of all eligible adults by the end of the year.

The campaign will be covering more locations to ensure its widest reach. In less than a month, a total of 7,688 people received their COVID-19 vaccination through the WoW mobile clinics.

Since its launch, the WoW initiative has provided a wide range of free services through its mobile clinics including medical consultation, medical services, occupational health services, dental services and referral services. Each mobile clinic is equipped with top-quality medical equipment and is staffed by volunteer healthcare professionals. The initiative aims to hold more than 300 outreach events by 2025, bringing quality healthcare services to more than 100,000 beneficiaries across Dubai and the UAE.

Sharjah is reaching out to help not only its residents but those abroad, to use disasters as an opportunity for promoting human compassion. It lent a helping hand to crisis-hit Lebanon through its campaign “Peace to Beirut” launched by H.H. Sheikha Jawaher Bint Muhammad Al Qasimi, the wife of H.H. the Ruler of Sharjah and President of the Big Heart Foundation, Eminent Advocate for Refugee Children at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Sharjah also reached out to flood-hit Sudan through the Sharjah Charitable Society’s campaign titled “From Sharjah to Sudan, from goodness to loyalty”, which was launched under the directives of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah.

Tackling COVID-19 Under the directives of Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, the various entities and institutions of the Emirate joined hands to successfully confront the COVID-19 challenge through a campaign titled ‘People First.’ The campaign produced a number of initiatives and achievements in all sectors including in the technology sector, business automation, work development and education. Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammad Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of Sharjah Executive Council, granted exceptional leave to thousands of Sharjah government employees to work from home during the pandemic, especially allowing female employees with children to work from home.

The UAE ranked first globally in the distribution of daily doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from 12th to 18th January, 2021, with a rate of 1.16 doses for every 100 persons. The country also ranked fifth globally in terms of the vaccine’s availability.

In July 2020, the UAE accomplished a key achievement, under the framework of its continuous efforts to limit the spread of the virus, after the successful use of dogs in the country’s airport to detect infected people, the first country in the world to successfully implement this approach.

The UAE ranked first in the Middle East in the list of best countries that addressed the coronavirus crisis, according to the Global Soft Power Index published by Brand Finance. The UAE was the first country in the Middle East and fifth in the world to offer drive-through coronavirus tests.

The UAE also established the largest coronavirus lab outside China, in addition to other precautionary measures that helped limit the spread of the virus.