His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum visits DHA stand at Arab Health 2013

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan was greeted by His Excellency Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority and DHA members.

Al Maidoor presented an overview of the latest services provided by the health authority and highlighted the several updates in the regulatory system, which will further provide an impetus to the health sector.

At the forefront of this, is the introduction of a new law for healthcare professionals and facilities in Dubai. The law is comprehensive in nature and brings together all the existing laws on the Dubai health sector-under one remit. Moreover, the law also introduces some new rules and regulations, which are in line with international regulations and are aimed to upgrade the health sector as well as protect patients' rights.

In line with these regulatory updates, Al Maidoor also highlighted a pertinent project which the authority introduced at Arab Health 2013 - a comprehensive Dubai Healthcare Professional Licensing Guide, which provides complete information about licensure for healthcare professionals.

Al Maidoor said: "It is important to note that the DHA has always paid importance to upgrading its regulations and we have been regularly undertaking this task to ensure we are at par with international standards. The dynamic nature of the health sector requires a regular update of our regulations and licensing requirements for both healthcare professionals and health facilities. Therefore, the DHA health regulation department has ensured that all information required by healthcare professionals is available in this guide, it is comprehensive in nature and includes several additional details which will make licensure for healthcare professionals in Dubai an easier process."

He highlighted that presently due to the Sheryan project, healthcare professionals can apply for a license to practice in Dubai from anywhere in the world. He added that the candidates can avail of this system from 300 centres located across 76 countries and now with the introduction of this guide, the process will be further streamlined.

Dr Ramadan Ibrahim, Director of Health Regulation at the DHA, elaborated: "The 'Dubai Healthcare Professional Licensing Guide,' consists of information about healthcare professional licensure and includes physicians, dentists, allied health professionals, traditional complementary and alternative medicine practitioners (TCAM) and nurses. It is a comprehensive guide and has updated information for seven different processes such as licensure for new professionals, transfer of license, cancellation of license, upgrading specialty of professionals, part-time request etc. These processes have been upgraded to include worldwide trends and developments in the field."

Furthermore the assessment and exemption list has also been upgraded, he said.

Dr Mohammed Oussama Kayali, Head of Health Regulation Section at the DHA, said: "Each country has educational programs based on the needs of the country. Therefore, we have added 25 new titles for physician qualification and ten titles for dentists and many new titles for allied health professionals. The titles are based on international benchmarks followed by licensing and regulatory authorities worldwide and inclusion of more titles broadens the scope of practice in the field. In addition, we have introduced 30 new countries in the approved list of specialty certification, bringing the total number of countries to 70."

Last year, the DHA updated its facilities guide which stipulates regulation and licensing requirements for hospitals, day-care centres, radiology services, clinical laboratory services etc in Dubai.

Dr Ibrahim also highlighted that the DHA demonstrated their newly introduced e-inspection system, which ensures healthcare professionals and facilities receive notification of any irregularities, fines etc on the spot.

Dr Ibrahim said this is vital to ensure transparency and efficiency in the health sector and that so far, since the introduction of the system, 1500 violations have been lodged electronically.