Dubai Health Authority signs MoU with Korea Health Industry Development Institute

DUBAI: The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute to explore various avenues of collaboration in the health sector. Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director-General of the DHA and Dr. Lee Young Chan, President of Korea Health Industry Development Institute signed today a MoU on the sidelines of the DHA Transformation Forum.

Al Qatami highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing and collaboration in today’s globalized world and highlighted the positive impact such collaborations have on patient care and on the growth of the overall health sector.The two sides will collaborate in healthcare services including medical tourism, technology, best practises and medical education.The DHA also highlighted its achievements in its effort to implement the Dubai Health Strategy by 2021.

The strategy has 15 programs and 96 initiatives that fall under these programs and the initiatives are divided into three waves: immediate, medium and long-term.Al Qatami highlighted that the aim of the Authority is to ensure smooth implementation of the strategy and to see its successful completion by 2021.

Some of the achievements of the implementation of the strategy include the successful rollout of the mandatory health insurance scheme in Dubai. Presently more than 99 per cent of those with Dubai visas (approximately 4.3 million people) now have access to mandatory health insurance.

Other achievements include the completion and approval of the mental health strategy and the go-live of the Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) unified electronic medical record system known as Salama.  In April 2017, Rashid Hospital, Barsha Health Center, Airport Medical Center, Dermatology Center and Dubai Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Center went live with the Salama project and more than 1.4 million DHA patient medical records and over 12 million transactions were transferred to the Salama system.

The project is in line with the DHA’s smart health initiatives and is an important part of the Authority’s health strategy.

Some of the key features of the strategy is the focus on prevention and healthy lifestyle, public health and safety, primary care, chronic disease management, private and public partnership and investment, improve governance of the health sector and medical tourism.

The fifteen programs of the strategy are:

Care model innovation

• Prevention and healthy lifestyle
• Primary care
• Dental care
• Mental and behavioral disorders
• Medical tourism
• Chronic disease management
• Excellence, quality and patient experience
• Centres of excellence including clinical research
• Workforce and medical education
• Governance
• Data and technology( medical informatics)
• Insurance and health financing
• PPP and investment

The updated strategy aligns with Dubai strategic plan 2021, the national UAE plan, key stakeholders as well as addresses evolving external environment matters.