Medical licences to be unified



Medical licences will be unified by the end of the year and a nationwide board established to evaluate and approve training programmes and examinations.

In March, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (Haad) unified their licensing procedures, making it easier for doctors to move between the two emirates. In April, Dubai Healthcare City followed.

But those licensed by the Ministry of Health, which regulates hospitals in the Northern Emirates, were still unable to work for centres belonging to the DHA or Haad unless they applied for licences.

Doctors have welcomed the latest move, saying it would give them more flexibility and play an important role in hospitals retaining healthcare professionals throughout the country.

"When Haad began instituting its own licence, those who were only licensed by the ministry had to move to the Northern Emirates," said Dr Lamya El Barasi, the chief pharmacist at Al Noor Hospital.

"This demotivated many doctors since some of them had to leave their families and lives behind in Abu Dhabi and move to Sharjah or Ajman."

Although unifying the licensing system will make it easier for doctors to practise in different emirates, hospital management should not be concerned that they might lose staff, said Dr Ammar Salti, a consultant anaesthetist and pain management expert at Zayed Military Hospital.

Licences are linked to the centre at which a doctor works, Dr Salti said.

"When a doctor wants to change facilities, he is still required to apply for a change of status," he said. "This requires a background check and security clearance, which takes time. This is a good thing because it secures both the doctor's job and the facility's staff."

A unified medical licensing system could also improve the quality of health care, Dr Salti said.

"For example in Dubai and Abu Dhabi you're required to complete at least 50 hours of continuous medical education every year before your renew your licence," he said.

"Unifying the licences would let people be more confident in the system and let them see that there's no conflict of interest.

"It's a very logical step. After all, it's the same country."

Under the unified licensing system all doctors would be similarly qualified.

The ministry was not available for comment.

A medical board, formally called the Emirates Council for Health Specialties (ECHS), is also in the works. It will be responsible for evaluating and approving medical programmes and examinations.

A blueprint provided by Dr Mohammed Baniyas, chairman of the foundation committee of the ECHS, listed the grounds for establishing the board.

The document states the country lacks a body that accredits clinical specialisation programmes and one that certifies medical specialists. This, it says, "negatively affects national capacity building and the quality of healthcare services".

It states the establishment of the ECHS is essential for "offering and approving internationally recognised, unified and cost-effective postgraduate clinical education and clinical certification inside the country".

The current accrediting and certifying body for residency programmes is the Arab Board, which is not regarded by national health authorities as equal to those on the international level.

The proposal states the board will raise the bar for graduate performance and that current requirements are not adequate.

The DHA and Haad offer post-graduate education programmes for those who want to specialise, but they are not mandatory.

The ministry does not offer a residency programme for Emirati graduates, who are allowed to practise in its hospitals as general practitioners after only one year of internship.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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