UAE Cabinet discusses education and healthcare improvements

ABU DHABI // A national public hospital evaluation programme was one of the ways to improve health care discussed at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting.

Health care and education will receive the utmost attention and improvement will not stop as they are priorities for the UAE’s people, said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, who presided over the meeting.

Sheikh Mohammed said that both areas are rapidly changing worldwide, and under the leadership of the President, Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE aimed “to cope with and improve the quality of public services, especially in education and health, continuously”.

“Quality and innovation should be cornerstones in healthcare and education systems, and we want them to be the top systems globally that will ensure happiness for all,” Sheikh Mohammed told the Cabinet.

The programme for public hospitals and clinics would involve evaluating waiting time, patient satisfaction, stay duration and percentage of surgery success.

The Cabinet also discussed the creation of a database that would help in developing policies and strategies for health.

The meeting also endorsed a federal regulation combatting communicable diseases, which stipulates how to report cases and measures to be taken if an infection is detected in animals that infect humans.

The establishment of a border public health control unit was also discussed.

In talks on education, the Cabinet reviewed a proposal to improve the standard of teaching in public schools with more training.

The development and regulation of the halal food industry was also on the agenda, and the Cabinet approved the formation of the International Forum for Halal Certification Bodies.

The forum would help to build confidence in an already thriving industry and assure the UAE’s leadership in food certification.

The Cabinet also approved a plan to install energy-saving lightbulbs in streetlamps to cut light pollution and save public money.

Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, also attended the meeting.