His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid felicitates former and long-serving employees of the DHA.

•    Gala event held in honour of former and long-serving employees

•    Batch of graduates who completed the Future Leaders Program in association with International Hospital Federation, also felicitated.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 20, 2014: His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai Health Authority, felicitated former, long-serving and future leaders of the DHA at a gala ceremony that was held at Zabeel Ladies Club.

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid presented certificates to  former director-generals of the DHA, former directors, 87 long-standing DHA employees who have completed more than 35 years at the DHA and 31 young DHA leaders who have completed their graduation program from the International Hospital Federation.

His Excellency Engineer Essa Al Maidoor, Director-General of the DHA thanked HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid on behalf of all former and present employees for HH's presence and said that all government employees at the DHA are keen to serve the nation to further advance the health sector.

He said the health sector in the UAE has undergone tremendous transformation, since the formation of the Union, 42 years ago and that UAE has seen development not only in the health sector but across several sectors due to the vision of its leaders.

Al Maidoor said: “In the last fourty-two years, health and healthcare in the UAE has undergone a tremendous transformation, keeping pace with the rapid development of the UAE,  we are thankful to all our leaders, 
HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the UAE; HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Federal Supreme Council of leaders, for it is under their able guidance that the UAE has flourished.”

He added that the DHA has, in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, worked towards the development of the health sector, which is a vital sector to ensure the health and well-being of the population and visitors alike.

Al Maidoor said human resources play a particularly important role in the field of healthcare and he thanked HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid for felicitating the leaders of the DHA who laid the foundation of healthcare in Dubai.

He also expressed his thanks to long-standing employees at the DHA who have contributed to the success of the DHA.  He said: “  Human resources is in many ways the heart of the health sector and we thank each and every  long-standing employee for their contribution to the development of the health sector. Their dedication, ideas and  efforts have contributed to the development of this sector.”

He said the DHA pays great emphasis to the development of human resources and in line with the Authority's aim to  provide continuing medical educational opportunities to its employees, the Authority recently  organised a Future Leaders training program with the International Hospital Federation. The first batch of 31 leaders recently completed their graduation and were felicitated during the ceremony.

Talking about the future of the health sector in Dubai, Al Maidoor said the DHA chalked out the Dubai Health Strategy 2013-2025 in May last year. The strategy is in line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. DHA is working towards the implementation of this strategy and by 2025, Dubai will have three new government hospitals and 40 new primary healthcare centres.

The DHA health regulation department has granted this year itself 130 new facility licenses and 5208 professional licenses, adding to the facilities and manpower in the health sector.

Presently Dubai has a total of 25 hospitals (21 in the private and 4 in the government sector.) Additionally, 18 new  private hospitals are underway in Dubai. 

Dubai has over 2,229 health facilities in Dubai both in the public and private sectors. These facilities employ more than 21,500 healthcare professionals ( 15,500 in the private and 6,000 in the public sectors.) Dubai has more than 6,750 physicians speaking more than 60 languages and has amongst the best tourism infrastructure in the world.

A total of 1,200 polyclinics and 580 pharmacies are also operational in the Emirate.

Al Maidoor said  in line with Dubai Strategic Plan 2013-2025 and keeping Dubai Expo 2020 in mind, the health sector will witness major developments in the coming years.

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