Emirati sees great transformation in UAE health care

Emirati resident Fatima Muhammed is one of many who has watched the UAE health landscape flourish over the last decade.

ABU DHABI // Emirati Fatima Muhammed has been witness to the country’s health transformation.

“There was a limited number of health facilities in Abu Dhabi 20 years ago,” says Ms Muhammed, 50. “They were not as technologically sophisticated.”

Medical equipment was very basic, she says. “Hospital beds, for example, were like any other beds – not adjustable and couldn’t be moved. You would need to wait a long time to see a doctor.

“Rooms were shared with many other patients and there was no electronic system that linked health centres with one another so people would go to only one for treatment.”

All that has changed.

“There are more facilities and more technologically advanced clinics equipped with latest machines,” Ms Muhammed says.

“There is an electronic system that allows you to go to different centres without having to open a new file. We receive messages to remind us of our appointments.”

She is one of many who have noted the developments.

The poll found most (64 per cent) residents believe health care has improved steadily over the past decade.

Of those, many feel the most significant improvements were better infrastructure (35 per cent) and better training of medical staff (21 per cent).

“I agree, infrastructure has remarkably improved,” says Ms Muhammed. But she thinks more could be done to improve the training of medical professionals.

“We often hear about medical errors done by local doctors that negatively affected patients,” she says. “We hear many stories about wrong diagnoses.

“Training might have improved but it still is something that the country should work on. The country is still not ready to be a trusted medical destination.”

More Emirati doctors would improve trust and break down communication barriers, Ms Muhammed says.

“They would understand the culture more than the majority of expat doctors who often come from very different backgrounds.”

Respondents believe the focus now should be on improving the healthcare workforce.

Their priorities are more experienced doctors (69 per cent), more experienced and trained nurses or midwives (47 per cent), regular training for all medical staff (40 per cent) and strict screening and assessment of them (40 per cent).

“Residents acknowledge the improvement that touched the healthcare premises but still feel the need to invest in the human capital employed in health care and run stringent selection procedure of staff,” says YouGov’s Lara Al Barazi.

Lisa Stephens at Arab Health agrees: “The UAE has experienced a significant hospital construction boom in the past decade, driven by the need for new hospitals to catch up with population growth.

“A noteworthy advance towards the adaptation of world-class quality care has been the flight towards regularly monitored and published quality outcomes.

“Healthcare operators and facilities in the UAE are now becoming accountable to their patients with more and more patients making informed choices on where to seek medical care.”

Some respondents say medical providers driven by profit, a lack of experienced staff and a too-rapidly evolving health system are hindering progress.