DHCA rolls out e-Licences for doctors, nurses

DUBAI- Dubai Healthcare City Authority, DHCA, on Tuesday announced the launch of its e-Licence initiative for healthcare professionals as part of several measures to support frontline health workers.

To support national efforts towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals are permitted to work in multiple facilities across the UAE. Further, several professionals are volunteering in roles that utilise their medical background in addition to their current scope of practice, a DHCA press release said on Tuesday. With the introduction of the e-License, which is secure and tamper-proof, healthcare professionals will benefit from reduced administrative requirements such as shorter wait time to receive a printed license, instant updates when a new permanent employer is added or license is renewed, and no fees for printing and delivery. Apart from the e-License, DHCA has introduced other updates to ensure that professionals can renew their license in the face of current challenges.

DHCA has studied the challenges that healthcare professionals face while renewing their licenses, mainly, stipulated number of Continuing Professional Development, CPD, trainings (50 percent in person) and Basic Life Support, BLS, (only in-person). For the time being, in-person trainings are not accessible, and professionals are negatively impacted as these trainings are required for their licenses. To support its over 4,500 professionals, Dubai Healthcare City Authority – Regulatory (DHCR), the regulator of the Dubai Healthcare City free zone, now accepts 100 percent online CPD training and BLS courses.

"By introducing such measures we are reducing the administrative burden on doctors, nurses and allied professionals in the free zone who risk their lives to keep us safe as well as professionals who are licensed to work in branches of DHCC-based clinical facilities," said Jamal Abdulsalam, CEO of DHCA. The Professional e-License initiative, he said, is in line with the UAE government’s digital transformation efforts. It also taps into a crucial aspect of ensuring business continuity as the service in entirely online and doesn’t require the healthcare professional to visit our offices in person.