Dubai Herbal and Treatment Centre receives Integrated ISO 9001 and 14001 certificates

The DH&TC opened one year ago to provide allopathic and complementary therapies including Dermatology, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, to patients and especially those with chronic. The DH&TC decided to attain ISO certification in order to establish good working practices to benefit the patients from the outset. According to Dr Ali Ridha, Director General of the DH&TC, "the Centre was offering a new concept of integrated health care in the UAE and our aim was to ensure best practice guidelines to help us provide a high standard of service for our clients."

"The ISO 9001:2000 will ensure a consistently high standard in all types of treatments the Centre offers," explained Dr Ridha. "We will continue to monitor our practices and ensure customer feedback is used to improve our services."

This standard will have an impact on how the Centre manages its medical records, its administrative practices and client care.

"As the clinic is founded upon the principles of natural treatments, we have a responsibility to be sensitive towards the environment. For the ISO 14001, we looked at our activities and how they impact on the environment. Our plan is to regularly monitor and assess our practices and reduce any adverse reaction to the environment, eg energy and water consumption, paper consumption, reuse, recycle in house paper and clinical waste," Dr Ridha said.

The DH&TC has been working on the ISO Certification for the past 12 months with Ray Kennedy from Incon Consultancy. "By establishing systems in line with internationally recognised standards, DH&TC is demonstrating its commitment to both preserving the environment and assuring clients that it has the ability to meet or exceed their expectations," Kennedy said.

"Integrating both standards in one system ensures that the clinic puts equal emphasis on both areas, the needs of the client and the protection of our environment. Another benefit is that the clinic minimises the administrative effort required to run the systems by combining the common aspects of both standards such as auditing, record keeping, documentation control etc," he concluded.

The on site assessment was conducted by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in order to verify compliance to DH&TC's systems and also regulatory compliance to the relevant international standards. The organisation was assessed by a team of specialists covering quality management, environmental performance as well as medical requirements.

"The assessment demonstrated a clear commitment from both the senior management team and staff to continual improvement of the organisation and environmental performance," said Mr Tom Johnston, BSI Middle East Manager. "The recommendation for certification of their integrated management system to both ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:1996 is believed to be a world first for a Complementary Medical Treatment Centre."

"With the ISO Certification, we want to assure our patients that all the practices are audited and monitored and are of the highest of standards. Their safety is of utmost importance to us and their feedback will help us keep our high standards," Dr Ridha concluded.