Sunday, Oct 14, 2012
Abu Dhabi: Nearly Dh10 billion has been invested in 2012 alone to enhance healthcare in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, senior health officials said in the capital on Sunday.
The investment is being made to increase the quality and range of healthcare, and it will also increase the number of hospital beds in the emirate from 3,600 in 2010 to about 4,600 by 2015, said Zeid Al Siksek, chief executive officer at the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD).
“In addition, to reduce the burden on healthcare facilities, a new system now requires nearly 1.3 million residents to first visit primary healthcare clinics for treatment,” Al Siksek said.
The system, which applies to residents with government-subsidised basic insurance plans, provides treatment at these primary healthcare clinics, and refers patients with urgent needs to other tertiary healthcare facilities, he explained.
Since the programme is being assessed and is still in its pilot phase, patients who need to be treated outside the primary healthcare clinics, as decided by their physicians, are currently only being referred to the Tawam Hospital in Al Ain and the Shaikh Khalifa Medical City in the capital.
Al Siksek was speaking on the sidelines of the sixth edition of the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress (ADMC), which kicked off in the capital on Sunday.
The three-day congress is expected to attract more than 4,000 healthcare professionals until Tuesday, conference organisers Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions said in a statement.
Al Siksek also said that 25,000 medical licences had been issued this year to healthcare professionals.
At present, 1,422 licensed Emirati healthcare professionals are also working in the emirate, of whom 72 per cent are female.
This year’s congress also included a presentation of the findings of the Abu Dhabi Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance 2011, a report which contains data on how various disease-causing bacteria and fungi, known as pathogens, are resistant to different classes of antibiotics.
Of the 16 most common pathogens detected in more than 19,000 patients across Abu Dhabi emirate, nearly all showed resistance to multiple drugs, said Dr Jens Thomsen, section head of occupational and environmental health at HAAD.
“As a result of such resistance, some of the most preferred antibiotics have become ineffective in treating pathogens, which could result in longer hospital stays for patients and even more severe infections,” he told Gulf News.
While the results are concerning, the HAAD official said more study was required into the how these pathogens were passed on.
“The 2011 results were derived from public hospitals in Abu Dhabi, so next year, we will try to consolidate reports from private facilities as well,” he said.
“Resistance to drugs is becoming a common concern in healthcare facilities across the world as more drugs are prescribed over time, so it is important to monitor the trends. This is what we are trying with our new system, and hopefully we can use the data to treat patients more effectively in the future,” Dr Thomsen added.
By Samihah Zaman Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
