Dubai, UAE: Medical mistakes are regrettable but unfortunately they still happen all over the world, including in the UAE. Medical errors can take many forms including delay in implementation of treatment, the lack of due care and neglect. Doctors can be held liable and patients can incur damages as a consequence of criminal, civil and administrative liability laws governing in the UAE.

Dr. Khaldoon Walid Nabhan from the Legal Affairs Department of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), UAE, will discuss Medical Errors & Liability Law in the UAE at the upcoming Surgery Management Conference in Dubai. This topic will be discussed as part of a wider conference program taking place during the 4th Hospital Build & Infrastructure Middle East Exhibition & Congress from 4-6 June 2012.

According to Dr. Nabhan, “Medical responsibility is influenced by the scientific progress, but it is also significantly influenced by sociological and psychological factors that often are more difficult to analyze. While medical staff and physicians are the ones likely to be held liable when it comes to faulty medical action, it is the patient themselves who could incur physical, financial or moral damage as a result of a medical mistake.  For example, the damage could be the result of incorrect indications given by a pharmacist regarding the use of a drug, or that the damage is incurred by the patient themselves through the non-commitment or non implementation of the correct medical indications.”

The last few years have seen massive investment and expansion in the healthcare industry in the UAE, as is evident from the construction and licensing of various specialized hospitals, clinics, universities and especially the free zones.  This growth has been characterized by the increased role of international healthcare service providers, with the result that increased numbers of international insurers and re-insurers are being exposed to medical malpractice risks in the UAE.

“Medical responsibility in the UAE was formerly defined and governed according to Law 7 of 1975 for the practice of medical professions, which had been a part of civil law,” says Dr. Nabhan. “The passing of Law 10 of 2008, namely the “Law on Medical Responsibility in UAE Nr (10) of 2008 “, created a new framework to deal with this issue.  One of its provisions required medical practitioners to hold insurance policies, so that insurance companies pays damages to the plaintiff (patient) is injured as a result of a physicians’ negligence.  A basic knowledge of the law is required to avoid pitfalls and to safeguard oneself against errors arising from ignorance of the duties and rights of the professional person.”

The Medical Liability Law in the UAE sets out principles to assist in determining whether a practitioner’s conduct amounts to malpractice, negligence or paying insufficient effort creates a framework for medical regulations.

“Should the criminal liability on the part of the physician be established, appropriate punishment should be inflicted,” says Dr. Nabhan. “The new Medical Liability Law imposes several penalties including imprisonment for periods ranging from three months to 10 years and fines ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 dirhams. For example, penalties may be inflicted on a person if they put an end to the life of a patient for whatever reason, undertake human cloning operations, conduct medical research or experiments on humans without license from the competent authorities, implant artificial organs in the patient’s body unless proved suitable, perform Assisted Reproductive Technology or implantation of embryo in the uterus of a woman unless the sperm and egg are taken from a married couple,  and perform any operation or intervention to cause female sterilization unless the pregnancy and delivery constitute certain danger to the woman’s life.”

Hospital Build & Infrastructure Middle East is the fastest-growing, global business-to-business platform dedicated to bringing together investors, commissioners, backers and managers of healthcare-related building projects with key players in planning, design, construction, operations, management, supply and refurbishment. As investment in the region’s healthcare infrastructure continues to rise, the 2012 event is set to be bigger than ever with more than 130 exhibitors covering 5,000sqm of exhibition floor space, an estimated 4,500 visitors, as well as more than 600 conference delegates.

For more information about the Surgery Management Conference at Hospital Build 2012, please call +971 (0)4 4072 743 or visit www.hospitalbuild-me.com.

About Informa Life Sciences:
For more information, please visit www.informalifesciences.com.

About DHA:
For more information, please visit www.dha.gov.ae.

For media inquiries please contact:

Inga Stevens

PR & Social Media Manager
Informa Life Sciences

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inga.stevens@informa.com

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Dubai, UAE: Under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the International Congress for Joint Reconstruction – Middle East (ICJR-ME) got underway today at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Center and was officially inaugurated by the Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid. The event attracts more than 40 international speakers, over 25 exhibiting companies and 400 of the regions leading orthopaedic surgeons.

Addressing members of the ICJR-ME conference delegation during the opening address, HE Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid said “At the DHA, hosting as well as supporting medical congresses is an important part of our vision, as we firmly believe such congresses provide a platform for specialists from all over the world to discuss the latest advances in their field. The range of topics, which will be discussed during ICJR-ME, highlights its importance. This conference will provide orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists and orthopaedists an opportunity to discuss the most recent developments in their field.”

Jointly organised by Informa Exhibitions and the International Congress for Joint Reconstruction (ICJR), this event will focus on updating the skills of regional professionals in order to grow the trend of performing world class total joint replacement in the Middle East. Sharing experiences from across the globe, experts such as Prof. Hamid Hosseinzadeh, Orthopaedic Surgeon from Akhtar Orthopaedic Hospital in Iran, spoke to ICJR-ME conference delegates about a variety of topics including the role of genetics in total knee and hip replacement surgery.

“In our hospital, we usually perform more than 500 hip and knee arthroplasties each year. While most of operations are done on patients with arthrosis – mainly due to age and lifestyle – in recent years, there is a growing interest in finding a genetic basis for arthrosis. In Iran, our research team has investigated this theory and found a specific gene more prevalent in those who have knee arthrosis. We now know that genetics play a major role in knee arthrosis in some ethnic groups,” says Prof. Hosseinzadeh.

Dr. Ahmed Abdul Aziz Ahmed, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Cairo University, also shared his experience of joint reconstruction surgery in Egypt.
Dr. Ahmed said “While there are no official statistics available for knee and hip replacement in Egypt, we mostly treat old people with degenerative joint disease. However, obesity is definitely a factor with younger patient making joint disease more symptomatic. Surgery to reconstruct a joint is very costly and very invasive and we encourage all patients to watch their weight with regular gentle exercise to avoid surgery.”

Running alongside the Congress is an exhibition with 25 companies showcasing their latest products and services. Key organizations include Zimmer, DePuy, Smith and Nephew, Bayer Healthcare, MSD, Boehringer Ingelheim, American Hospital Dubai, Karl Storz and Stryker.
ICJR-ME will continue on 2-3 March with free entrance to the exhibition for all trade professionals.

For more information, please call +971 4 407 2743 or visit www.icjr-me.com.
-END-
Note to Editors

About Informa Exhibitions:
For more information about Informa Exhibitions, please visit www.informaexhibitions.com.

About ICJR:
For more information about ICJR, please visit www.icjr.net.

About DHA:
For more information about DHA, please visit www.dha.gov.ae.

For media enquiries please contact:
Inga Stevens
PR and Social Media Manager
Life Science Division
Informa Exhibitions
T: +971 4 407 2743
F: +971 4 336 4021
inga.stevens@informa.com

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Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority submitted a new plan to encourage the private sector to participate more in UAE healthcare. Al Murooshid commented at the Arab Health Congress “At the DHA, we don’t consider the private sector to be our competitors, we consider them to be our partners in our race for excellence in healthcare. This is in line with the strategy of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai to ensure Dubai retains its position as a regional business hub”.

He said “The DHA launched a breakthrough initiative for the first time on a diverse communication tool, which has yet to be implemented by other Government entities in the Emirate. For businesses that are in the Emirate, we have issued details of our Tawajud service, which is a door-to-door medical service in Russian, French, Chinese, Korean, Urdu, Arabic and English. This will help reach out to wide business audience base. For potential investors who would like to know about our online licensing system, ‘Sheryan‘, we have also launched booklets several languages including French, Chinese, Korean, Urdu, Arabic and English to ensure we reach out to a wide audience base and target potential investors anywhere in the world”.

‘Sheryan‘ is an online licensing system which gives investors the ability to apply wherever they are. Talking about investment in healthcare Al Murooshid added “Today there are over 20 hospitals in the private and public sector and within the next six months, two more hospitals will be added to the sector. Presently, the private sector contribution is almost equal to the public contribution. Around 47 percent of healthcare services are provided by private hospitals and the rest is provided by public hospitals”.

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The Dubai Health Authority submitted more tough regulations on prosecuting unlicensed health professionals. As a result of editing the system, the health authority has added new recommendations for all health establishments and professionals working in Dubai. Dr Muhammad Oussama Kayali, head of the Health Regulation Section at the Health Regulation Department at the authority said “This is a major challenge for the authority. There should be no unlicensed staff in Dubai”.

He added that the authority followed routine inspections founding that health establishments had unsuitable infection control measures. The lack of statistical data submission by medical establishments has been taken seriously in consideration by the authority. In order to obtain health records in specific time, new medical establishments are required either. Dr Hisham Khatib, Consultant, Public Health and Safety Department at the authority revealed that a unified reporting system was being worked out for adverse reactions.

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The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has put expansion plans aiming to increase healthcare facilities in New Dubai. Those plans are part of the Dubai Health Strategy aiming to develop all aspects of healthcare during 2011-2013. Dr Laila Al Jasimi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA commented “As of now, we know that healthcare facilities are concentrated mostly in Deira and Bur Dubai and New Dubai does not have enough healthcare facilities. We are trying to increase and encourage investment in the new areas including free zones”.

Through the capacity plan, an insight into the future health needs of Dubai is accessible by studying existing projects. “We also have land allocated by the government for increasing healthcare services in residential areas. We are looking into the existing and the future projections required which will show us new services to be looked at and the existing ones that are not required anymore. Until then, we encourage investment.” She said.

She added “We are looking at different geographical areas of Dubai to assess how many healthcare services we have and if they fulfill the future volume of the healthcare systems that the emirate would require. Results from the study will also help in promoting healthcare investment both in the government and private sector. To direct proper investment in healthcare in Dubai, we have to understand the service”.

For the last quarter of 2011, the authority will operate some strategies to decrease the burden of communicable diseases in Dubai, smoking among youth, workplace injuries, and oversee treatments and to increase physical activity among school children. Dr Laila revealed “Policies have never been there to support the educational campaigns that we have been carried out and this is what we plan to develop. We are reviewing certain regulatory measures”. Commenting on medical tourism, Dr Laila said “It was imperative to develop a strong healthcare system comprising accredited facilities and credentialized professionals”.

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It is expected that establishing Al Barsha Primary Health Centre, which belongs to Dubai Health Authority will be finished by mid-2012. Building this center will cost about Dh50 million with an area of 70,000 sq ft. Around 45% of the work has already been completed as Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) revealed. He added that according to Dubai Health Strategy 2011-2013 to provide access to quality healthcare, additional facilities will be built across different areas of the emirate.

He said “Primary healthcare is the foundation of all high-performing health systems. It provides frontline healthcare services to the population living in the vicinity. This center will provide multidisciplinary services to its population. It will have two family clinics, specialist clinics, dental clinics, maternity and child care, x-ray and laboratory, health screening services and a pharmacy”. 16 primary healthcare centers in the emirate belong to DHA.

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Senior doctors in Dubai revealed that though it takes time to check credentials of expatriate medical professionals back in their home countries, it is necessary as Dubai wants to provide the best healthcare services. They explained that there are many challenges as the checking whether degrees and certificates of hundreds of doctors, nurses and various medical technicians are valid which takes time. Dr. Ramadan Ibrahim, director of health regulation department at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said “The delay is not from our side. The checks called the primary source verification takes about six weeks, but that is because the universities back in the professionals home countries take time to verify and reply”.

Dr. Pietie Lousber, chief clinical officer with EHL management services supports the DHA’s rigorous licensing checks in order to have a qualified medical staff in Dubai. He called for synchronizing the different licensing requirements that the DHA and the free zone, the Dubai HealthCare City (DHCC) require. He added “The procedures are also different between the Abu Dhabi and Dubai emirates”. “The verification of degrees does not stop the hiring process in Dubai. The doctors and professionals hired after their exams are allowed to work while the verification is going on” commented Mathew T.S., assistant human resources manager at DM Healthcare Group.

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August 30 is the deadline that Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has extended for doctors and other healthcare professionals to submit their applications for verification of documents. All nurses, technicians and doctors practicing in Dubai have been asked by the health regulation department of the DHA to submit their primary source verification (PSV) application by end of this month.

Dr. Ramadan Ibrahim, Director of the Health Regulation Department at DHA said “We would like to complete the assessment of applicants by the end of this year”. Primary Source Verification is a process whereby the applicant’s qualifications — including education, experience and license — are verified from the country from where they were originally obtained.

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A medical fitness test center for women in Al Rashidiya has been opened by Dubai Health Authority (DHA). A senior director at DHA said “The location is ideal for residents of Al Khawaneej, Al Warqa, Nad Al Hamr and Mizhar, who can get the medical screening done for their expatriate housemaids”. Maisa Al Bustani, Director of Medical Fitness commented “In the future this center will also screen expatriate women for new work visas”. Nowadays, 400 women per day do tests in the center required when renewing residence visas.

She added “The aim of opening a women-only center is to provide privacy for ladies. While this is a dedicated center for women, we already have a separate waiting area for females in all our centers. The next center in the pipeline will be located at the Al Karama Center which will open soon”. Recently, the DHA has 16 centers across Dubai, as Khalid Al Shaikh Mubarak, Deputy Director General of DHA revealed, who inaugurated the new medical fitness center.

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