In 2017, more than 181,000 patients visited the Al Barsha Primary Health Centre.

Of these, 21,000 patients visited the centre during the night shift.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: The introduction of round-the-clock and urgent care across two primary healthcare centres at the DHA in mid-2013, has progressively helped in reducing the number of non-emergency cases that visit Rashid hospital’s Trauma Centre, said a top health official.

Dr Alia Mohammed Rafie, Consultant family medicine and Head of Al Barsha Health Centre said that the introduction of the urgent care units at these two centres and the fact that they function 24 hours has directly helped in alleviating the pressure that Dubai’s Trauma and Emergency Centre at Rashid Hospital faces. “In mid-2013, we decided to provide 24-hour service and urgent care across two primary healthcare centres so that patients who needed urgent but not emergency care could visit primary healthcare centres rather than going to Rashid Hospital’s Emergency Centre which caters to emergency cases such as poly-trauma, cardiac arrest, strokes etc. Over the years, patients have become well aware of our services and we have seen a steady increase in the number of patients visiting the 24-hour clinics.

The two primary healthcare centres are capable of effectively treating urgent cases and are equipped with multi-disciplinary specialists.

Dr Elham Al Nuaimi, Head of 24-hour service unit in Al Barsha Health Centre said the service is of vital importance to the community because it helps provide better access to healthcare and geographical proximity and helps reduce the pressure that hospital emergency departments face due to non-emergency cases.

She said the primary healthcare centres should be the first- point -of contact for patients except for emergencies.

Dr Ayesha Al Basti, Specialist Family Physician and Acting Head of Nad Al Hamar said PHC’s provides services including outpatient family medicine, child health services, antenatal care, dental services, some specialist clinics like ENT, ophthalmology, dermatology in addition to supportive services such as pharmacy, X-ray& laboratory services.

In 2017, the centres stared a headache clinic after studying the number of cases of headaches they received. A neurologist from DHA hospital and a family physician attended this clinic ensuring that specialized care is provided to patients in primary healthcare centres.

The PHCs also offer preventive screening packages at discounted rates including women’s health, men’s health, adolescent’s health, smoking cessation package, to name a few.

In addition, the DHA  primary healthcare sector regularly holds health education and screening programs for various diseases across its health centres.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

Mahmoud Al Ali 
Head of Media
Dubai Health Authority 
myalali@dha.gov.ae
+9714 219 7260

Kamakshi Gupta and Noor Nazzal
Communications Analysts- Media Dept.
Dubai Health Authority 
Klgupta@dha.gov.ae  
NNNazzal@dha.gov.ae
+9714 2197455

About the Dubai Health Authority: 
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) was created, in June 2007, by Law 13 issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, with an expanded vision to include strategic oversight for the complete health sector in Dubai and enhance private sector engagement. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance is the President of the Dubai Health Authority and His Excellency Humaid Al Qutami is the Chairman of the Board and Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority.

The DHA’s aim in Dubai is to provide an accessible, effective and integrated healthcare system, protect public health and improve the quality of life within the Emirate. This is a direct translation of the objectives of the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Keeping the strategic plan in mind, the DHA’s mission is to ensure access to health services, maintain and improve the quality of these services, improve the health status of nationals, residents and visitors and oversee a dynamic, efficient and innovative health sector.

In addition to overseeing the health sector for the Emirate of Dubai, the DHA also focuses on providing services through DHA healthcare facilities including hospitals (Latifa, Dubai, Rashid and Hatta), specialty centres (e.g. the Dubai Diabetes Center) and DHA primary health centres spread throughout the Emirate of Dubai.

The main pillars of service delivery at DHA health facilities are quality, efficiency, patients and staff.  It is our aim to maintain and improve the quality and efficiency of DHA health services. An important aspect of the service delivery strategy is to focus on patients, their needs and satisfaction as well as attract, retain, nurture and support outstanding staff.

Prior to the establishment of the DHA, the Department of Health and Medical Services (DOHMS), which was established in 1973, was the functioning authority that almost exclusively focused on health service delivery.

© Press Release 2018