ABU DHABI // Federal hospitals are short of equipment and losing doctors because of budget shortfalls, the Minister of Health acknowledged yesterday. Haneef Hassan also said too much of the health budget was spent on administrative staff rather than on frontline health services.
He was speaking to the FNC following the presentation of a report on the subject prepared by a committee, as well as questions from several members. "There should be an increase in [financial] support, but also a rationalisation of expenditure including the swelling administrative staff," Mr Hassan told the FNC. "It would have been far better to direct these [human] resources to hospitals." FNC members complained that federally funded hospitals - most of which are in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates - suffered chronic shortages of staff and equipment.
"We are in dire need for material support for the Health Ministry, so it can perform its work properly," said Yousef Obaid al Nuaimi, a representative from Ras al Khaimah. "There are hospitals that are almost ready but they can't work because they need beds, employees, they need money and there's none." One member said a heart unit at Sharjah's Qassimi Hospital was ready for operation, but could not be staffed.
"They want the minister to succeed, but there has to be money; we can't hold him responsible while there is no money," said Mr al Nuaimi. "Material support will bring staff and equipment." He added that one hospital in the capital alone - Sheikh Khalifa Medical City - had a budget equal to the ministry, which runs 1,050 hospitals, medical centres and clinics. The meeting discussed a report drafted by the health, labour and social affairs committee that stated that the Ministry of Finance had refused to provide an additional Dh50 million to complete the building of a Dh450m hospital in Umm al Qaiwain.
The ministry's budget for this year is Dh2.7 billion, according to a report released by the FNC in December. "There is no doubt that mandate and financial resources are two basic things," said Dr Hassan. "The lack of equipment stems from the meagre financial resources and lack of full mandate." The report showed that only 18 of the 25 dialysis machines in federal hospitals were operational. This, it said, had led doctors to reduce treatment sessions from four to two hours.
Aisha al Roumi, a member from Sharjah, said doctors were leaving federal hospitals for better salaries elsewhere. Consultant doctors, she said, are paid Dh33,000 a month at ministry hospitals, compared with more than Dh58,000 in Dubai and Dh70,000 in Abu Dhabi. Dr al Roumi reeled off a list of discrepancies between federal and local salaries. She said that between January 1, 2009, and April this year, 39 Emirati doctors and 95 expatriate doctors had resigned from ministry hospitals.
"We should put an immediate solution to stop this haemorrhage in the Ministry of Health," she said. "The lack of staff has led to worsening the service and delaying the opening of some sections." Dr Hassan acknowledged the problem. "I completely agree with what the member has discussed with regards to staff, not only among doctors but also nurses and technicians," he said. "There is a haemorrhage."
@Email:mhabboush@thenational.ae
