Abu Dhabi Health Sector witnesses significant developments, says SCAD

Abu Dhabi, Sept 11, 2012 (WAM) - The Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi (SCAD) has said that Emirate of Abu Dhabi is putting in arduous efforts to provide a yet higher standard of living for its people and in the past few years, the Emirate has witnessed major development in the health sector, both public and private. The centre issued yesterday a set of important indicators about the health sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi pertaining for the year 2011. The figures released reflect the emirate’s remarkable achievements in this sector, which translate Abu Dhabi government’s ceaseless effort to provide high quality health infrastructures and services. The period under review also saw Abu Dhabi health services expand considerably, in line with the policy of Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) to ensure efficient performance of all health facilities in the emirate, which include public and private hospitals, primary health care centres, maternity clinics, etc. Public health services have grown to cover all areas in Abu Dhabi Emirate with primary health care facilities, which provide basic treatment, dental care and health education. Abu Dhabi’s preventive health programme controls communicable diseases through vaccination, chemicals disinfection, surveillance of those in close contact with patients, early detection of diseases and health education in collaboration with the authorities concerned in the Emirate. HAAD also has regulations in place to control the handling, dispensing and disposing of medications to limit any potential risks associated with their use. Specialised services have also undergone major developments as evidenced by higher performance in all sections. Over the years, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has been able, to lay the foundation of a healthcare network that provided full coverage for UAE nationals across the country, signalling improvements in a wide range of health indicators. Communicable diseases such as malaria, poliomyelitis, and measles have been eradicated, bringing down mortality rate to only 1.4 per 1000 population, compared to around 4.5 in 1975 and raising life expectancy at birth. From 1975 to 2011, the number of hospitals grew from two to 35, while the number of hospital beds increased from 616 to 3659 in 2011.over the same period, the number of doctors grew from 616 to 4900. In addition, the emirate’s health sector is served by 494 health centres and 427 pharmacies and 10500 nurses. “Thanks to the aforesaid developments, life expectancy at birth reached 77.6 years in 2011 (among the highest worldwide) up from only 49.3 years back in 1970. Detailed by sex, life expectancy at birth was 78.2 years for females and 77.1 years for males, with Al Gharbia region recording the highest life expectancy at birth (79.5 years),” the centre said. The private health sector has grown substantially in tandem with the improvement of the health insurance system, the increased levels of health financing in the emirate and a favourable climate for health insurance companies and their products. This has contributed towards the overall expansion observed in treatment services, with the number of individuals covered under the enhanced insurance service during 2011 reaching 1053893 people, up from 1044743 in 2010. Since the 2008, there has been a steady annual growth in the number of people covered by the enhanced health insurance scheme in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. – Emirates News Agency, WAM