DUBAI // Moving hospitals and health clinics into the modern age is one of the top priorities for Essa Al Maidoor.

As the director general of the Dubai Health Authority, he is in charge of overseeing one of the top burgeoning sectors in the emirate and has many strategic plans in the pipeline to bolster its health service.

In the short term, these primarily concern bringing all hospitals into the 21st century.

“I would like to see all the hospitals innovated. That is one of the dreams I hope to see through,” said Dr Al Maidoor.

Some government hospitals, such as Latifa Hospital and Rashid Hospital, are in desperate need of a facelift, he said. All existing government hospitals in the emirate have now been earmarked for improvement works.

“All are in evaluation now. They were built up to 40 years ago. Technology and construction are not what it is now.”

By 2019 all existing hospitals in the emirate will have been built or upgraded, he said. All will also have the latest smart technology, be operated on a paperless system and have electronic medical records.

“Information technology is very important. This guarantees the speed of the service and avoids mistakes by humans.

“It creates smart data which can help all the researchers and developing their research capability and they can develop and improve.”

The most pressing strategy will be the implementation of the health-insurance scheme. As of this month, phase one comes into force. It requires all companies with 1,000 or more employees to provide their workers with health insurance. This is well on the way, Dr Al Maidoor said.

Longer term, the 2025 masterplan will shape the emirate’s health landscape. A Dh3 billion revamp of Rashid Hospital, 40 new primary healthcare centres and three new hospitals are among many measures outlined in a 12-year scheme to boost health care in Dubai. “This is an encouraging date for us but we should not stop by then ... [there] is no limit towards the future horizon,” Dr Al Maidoor said.

The masterplan will be reviewed every five years.

Other plans in the pipeline included having a centre of excellence in each speciality, said Dr Al Maidoor.

That will contribute to the medical tourism vision for the emirate.

With medical tourism, relationships on a local and global level are vital, he said.

“We work with the world. We work closely with the Ministry of Health and [Health Authority Abu Dhabi].You cannot fragment and segregate the health and work in isolation.

“When you talk about health you have to work all together.”

A step in the right direction for the UAE was a new licensing law implemented this month allowing doctors to move freely and work in other emirates. This removed previous red tape that hindered attempts, Dubai medics said, to practice in Abu Dhabi or the Northern Emirates.

Chronic diseases and genetic diseases are other important health difficulties facing the country.

However, encouraging residents to change unhealthy habits, lifestyles and practices was one of the biggest challenges the emirate faces, he said.

“They just need more research and awareness. You cannot prevent a genetic disease, for example, only by preventing marriages – but by making people think about the suffering they could cause to themselves and the future generation if they do not follow the proper instruction.”

Dr Al Maidoor is in a rush to put Dubai – and the wider UAE – on the map for health care and is the first to tell you he wants things done yesterday.

“I feel that we are really slow. I know that we are not. I just want to move faster,” he said.

Despite his concerns, Dr Al Maidoor acknowledges that Dubai has made meteoricadvances.

“When we talk about health sector – it was established here in the 1940s when it was single small centre with maybe two or three specialists. Now look.

“There is a huge demand and investment in the sector.”

jbell@thenational.ae