Welcome in the North for rethink on health

Scrapping plans for a federal health authority to take over from the Ministry of Health was the right decision, health officials and FNC members said yesterday.

The rethink, announced last week, will allow the ministry to concentrate on solving problems such as staff shortages and poorly equipped facilities, and to hire and train more Emirati staff.

Dr Yasser Isa Al Nuaimi, the director of Ras Al Khaimah health ministry, said: "I was against it from the beginning, because we already have a system in place."

Dr Mohammed Abdullah Bin Saeed, the director of Fujairah Medical District, said: "Instead of focusing on a new system, let us improve the system that already exists."

Hospitals have long suffered staff shortages and a lack of equipment, particularly in the northern emirates, said Sheikha Eissa Al Ari, from Umm Al Qaiwain, the only woman elected to the FNC.

Umm Al Qaiwain Hospital's maternity ward, the only one in the emirate at the time, was closed for maintenance for several months in 2010.

"Our hospitals are suffering, and we need to change," said Ms Al Ari. "Our hospitals, at least, those in the Northern emirates, are not well equipped.

"You want to know what problems we have? Let me rephrase that. The question should be, 'what problems does the medical sector here not have?'"

The ministry is already opening new hospitals across the northern emirates. In Ras Al Khaimah, the 248-bed Sheikh Khalifa Specialist Hospital opens this year, as will new hospitals in Sharjah, Fujairah and Ajman.

All 15 ministry-run hospitals and 64 healthcare centres should benefit from the release of the money that was to be spent on setting up the federal authority. The ministry's budget has also been increased from Dh2.3 billion to Dh3bn.

Dr Saeed said the system in Fujairah still had weaknesses despite improvements elsewhere, and changing the structure was not enough. "What we need is a better quality of service," he said.

Ms Al Ari described a recent incident when a child aged 4 was brought in to a hospital emergency department with a bloated stomach. The doctor checked him out and sent him home after diagnosing wind.

"That same night, he was taken to hospital in Dubai with kidney failure, which was caused by cancer."

Similar cases happened every week in Umm Al Qaiwain, she said.

"In the North, we should benefit from the advancements made in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. And we do hope that. I'm going to do my best."

zalhassani@thenational.ae

RESULT

Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

What are the main cyber security threats?

Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.

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Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.

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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.”